The Last Kilairian
by WarlordFil
Summary: Autobot Sky Patrol Commander Stormrave's loyalty is torn between her Autobot comrades and the influence of her long-lost assembly-line sister, whose life has taken a very different path. Part of the "Tempest Cycle." Complete3
1. Chapter 1

**Credits:** Amy K. Cyrway and I jointly developed Autobot Sky Patrol.

Cavalier, Mindsurge and Ranger are her characters; the Ridge and Brainstorm's are her concepts.

Dylan P. Blacquiere made Zodiac.

Anyone else you don't recognize from the official sources are mine.

Transformers are the property of Hasbro.

This story is set after "In the Blueprints, In the Blood" and "Star Cruiser" and before "The Gates of Hell."

THE LAST KILAIRIAN

#

CYBERTRON-FLASHBACK

I was a child. A kid, for Primus' sake, practically built yesterday...and I just wanted to have some fun. That was all. Fun, childish fun, is that too much to ask?

Yeah, that was me. Little Cavalier, still a child, but wanting so badly to be like the big Autobots. And when you're that small, everyone's big-so it escaped me that the adolescents who went racing out on the Ridge were hardly more than kids themselves. Young rebels, all of them, who found a thrill in defying their elders' commands and racing on the forbidden Ridge with its network of caves and canyons.

They never wanted me along, of course. I was too young, I was too little. And so I made it a habit to follow them, to hide in one of the many craters and watch the drag races they held, dreaming of the day when I would be old enough to take part...and win.

In time one of them would remember his chores or his patrols, and the group would leave. I would have to wait until they were all gone before I could come out of hiding. That's when I'd go screaming down the canyons that the older robots had only recently vacated, dreaming of myself at the head of the pack. When I won those races in my mind, the canyon walls echoed my cheers over and over again until I barely had to imagine the roar of the crowd at my victory.

It was an innocent pasttime. What in the Pit did I do so wrong?

#

My dream goes sour as the echos fade away. As always, when my voice stops cheering, the "crowd" stops as well-now that my cries do not sustain the echos. The day when I can race with the big kids is taking forever in coming.

And then, I see her. A red Autobot, her engine revving, tilted away from me as if inviting me to race.

Barely able to believe my good fortune, I transform and roll over to her. She waits until I am beside her, though she guns her engine with impatience. When we are poised side by side, she suddenly takes off. I am right behind her.

She is more experienced than I am. I stay on her tail, waiting for the moment to make my move. I can hear loud music pulsing from her cab. I am delirious with excitement and so it takes me a while to recognize that we are not following any of the conventional race courses. Where is the end of this race? How much longer? I am small and getting tired, but I force myself to keep up, never more than a few lengths behind the sporty airfoil on my opponent's rear bumper.

The course grows more treacherous. The road is narrow; rocks litter the path and I am forced to fling my wheel madly to avoid crashing. On one side of the road, a chasm falls away into nothingness. I lose some of my elation and begin to wonder if perhaps I am not over my head, but I do not want to turn back now. What will my opponent think?

She has not said anything, all this time. I can hear only a hint of a peculiar whistling sound over the thunder of her music.

Finally, exhausted, I cannot go on. I transform and clutch my aching side; my adversary's exhaust fills my air vents.

It does not take her long to realize that I am no longer behind her. She stops, turns around and drives up to me. In front of me, she transforms...

...into the oddest looking Autobot I've ever seen. Her head is avian, birdlike. She tilts it to one side and whistles as if asking a question.

It is then I notice that she wears no identification sigil.

Her alien nature frightens me and hammers home the point that I am, after all, only a child and very far away from home. Fear gives me more energy. I stammer, transform and dart off back the way I'd come.

It is then I hear the voice behind me...

"TALLY-HO!"

I look back and a lean, predatory-looking jump jet is screaming down the canyon after me.

"I say, Beretta, what have you found?" comes a strange voice as the jet buzzes low over my hood. "A little Autobot! Jolly good! Take her, men!"

I glance back and see the red vehicle hot on my heels again. They're going to beat me up, I think, and then the elders will find me and get me in trouble for being out here on the Ridge. I'm really in for it...

The jump-jet passes low and strafes me. Laser fire...with real lasers...rains down around me. I am completely in shock. Even the biggest, meanest bully would not use lasers on another Autobot.

I look up at the jumpjet and scream.

He has purple logos on his wings.

Decepticon.

The red car-Beretta-has pulled even with me. She sideswipes me, knocking me into the canyon wall. I have barely recovered my equilibrium when she does it again.

I am in more trouble than I have ever imagined.

Voices crackle on the Decepticons' radios, but I barely hear them. I'm trying desperately to think of something to do. I know I cannot outrun the jump jet...

...but perhaps I can hide. The canyons of the Ridge are rich in caves. The aircraft will not enter a cave, and maybe I can lose the red car in the darkness...

I put on a burst of speed, heading towards the nearest cave, but Beretta cuts me off. Her radio crackles furiously. I try again, braking hard, letting the birdlike female pass me before I dash behind her to a cave on the other side of the canyon. The jump jet drops like a rock and hovers in front of the cave entrance, strafing. I am forced to flee. Panicking...for the canyons are looking more and more unfamiliar and the Decepticons are closing in behind me...I never question when the red car suddenly stops in its tracks and allows me to enter a cave.

My elation at making it turns to fear as I look back to see whether the Decepticons are pursuing me. I see no sign of them. The cave is large and from somewhere a rumbling noise, like a huge engine, is filling the darkness...

Blinding light suddenly floods the cave, emanating from two huge headlights that just barely illuminate the grille of a gigantic truck only meters ahead of me.

I scream again, whirling around before the huge vehicle can hit me. Deep metallic laughter rumbles from the grille of what is, obviously, a Decepticon transport...

I am fleeing back towards the entrance of the cave. I am looking behind me, and my mind barely registers the mirth of the Decepticons, the chatter on their radios, or the whirring sound of a rotor outside.

The next thing I know, I have driven into a net that had been stretched across the cave entrance. The rotor noise increases and I found myself hanging helplessly in midair as my pursuers transform.

Aside from the red birdlike robot, there is the jump-jet...a coldly handsome individual with a wedge-shaped head, and the heavy transport, who transforms into a large khaki robot. The canvas covering over the rear of the transport becomes a flowing cape in his robot form. They are only adolescents-the same age as the Autobot kids who race at the Ridge-but they are Decepticons without a doubt.

Suddenly, I fall with a thud. I struggle helplessly with the net as a light helicopter touches down and transforms into a fourth Decepticon-a smaller robot with triangular red eyes and a frame decorated by sharp points and serrated edges. He smiles cruelly as he draws a huge laser sword.

"Nice catch, Chopper," the truck says.

Chopper, the helicopter, seems sullen. "My name is Blade," he mutters.

"Whatever, Chopper," the jump jet retorts. He tilts his head. "Now, where's my copy of One Hundred Things to Do With a Captive Autobot?"

"Do?" Beretta asks. She seems uncomfortable. "Aren't we just gonna beat her up and let her go?"

"Of course not," Chopper replies, examining his laser sword. "I'm going to test the edge on this thing...by slicing this Autobot apart...feet first."

I try to shriek and my voice fails me.

"Hey," the jump jet protests, "we want some too."

"I caught her, she's mine!" the helicopter snaps. "Catch your own Autobot, Harrier!"

"You wouldn't have caught her if we hadn't chased her into your net!" Harrier argues. "We caught her together and so we all get to decide what to do with her."

Beretta and the large truck pick me out of the net and pin me to the ground. I struggle, lashing out wildly and manage to land a good kick to Beretta's midsection. She draws back in pain, and I turn my attention to the big guy.

"Hold her, Deuce!" Beretta cries.

My blows are ineffective against Deuce. He drives me to the ground, pinning my shoulders, and when Beretta is recovered he lets her hold my left shoulder and arm, while he maintains his grip on my right side. My kicking is completely useless.

"I say we should take her head off and hang it up on our wall...a nice trophy from our hunt," Harrier says.

"I wanna chop her up," Chopper whines.

"You can chop up the body, but leave the head intact. I won't have you ruining my trophy!"

"If we have to kill her, I say we drop her off a cliff and see if Autobots bounce," Beretta suggests.

"That's no fun." Chopper and Harrier seem to agree on this point.

"At least when the Autobots find her crushed remains they'll attribute it to an accident, instead of sending out a squad of soldiers to look for us. I really want a platoon of Autobots breathing down my tail pipe..." Beretta adds sarcastically.

I kick out again, hard. "Would you guys give us a hand?" Deuce rumbles. "I'm getting sick of doing all the work to hold her while you make up your minds!"

Harrier and Chopper shrug. Harrier grabs my right leg; Chopper, my left. "I want my trophy," Harrier presses, "but as long as the head's intact you guys can kill her any way you want."

"You're not going to kill her."

It's a new voice, female, coming from behind me. The four Decepticons look up with expressions of respect. I struggle to turn my head and see who has come to rescue me, but the Decepticons are holding me firmly to the ground and try as I might, my head will not turn that far.

"Boss!" Deuce exclaims.

Boss. My blood runs cold. I have not been rescued after all.

"Why not?" Harrier protests. "I want my trophy..."

"If she gets away, she'll tell the Autobots," Beretta insists.

Cold, chilling laughter. "I WANT her to tell the Autobots," the leader says. "It's time they learned that there's a new force to be reckoned with."

"So you're just going to let her go?" Deuce says, incredulous.

"I wanna chop her up," the helicopter-Decepticon whines again.

Another snicker. "Chopper, we have to let her go..." A pause, and I can visualize the heartless smile, though not the face that does the smiling. "...but there's no reason we should let her go intact."

Chopper laughs and draws his laser sword; the others join in.

For a moment...the briefest of moments...I am distracted. The sun is setting behind me, and its light throws the shadow of the leader into silhouette on the rock wall. I see a V of pointed wings, rising ducts of metal on each shoulder, and a rounded head.

Seeker.

At the tip of the shadowy wings, where the sun is shining brightest, there is the slightest hint of yellow-a shade reflected off metallic paint.

Then Chopper steps in front of the leader's silhouette, his laser sword at the ready and a heartless expression in his eyes.

I scream, my jaw stretched down as far as it will go to make room in my mouth for my cries. Quickly, unexpectedly, Deuce hooks his fingers into my mouth and holds my jaw open.

Harrier's voice is sad. "She'll never make a trophy now..."

Chopper grins wickedly, kneeling on my chest and preparing to make his first slice. Once again, I can see the Seeker's silhouette as the great bright blade descends...

#

PLANET EARTH

Cavalier awoke from her rest phase with a strangled cry. Her optics flew open and pierced the dim room around her. There was movement in the doorway...a familiar and ominous silhouette. The Seeker. Here for her...

Stormrave flicked on the light and took two steps into the room with Zodiac right behind her. "Cav? Cav! What's wrong?" The Sky Patrol Commander had her laser handgun drawn, her head turning from right to left as she scanned the room for signs of danger.

Cavalier raised her right hand to rub her jaw and found only the cold steel plate that covered the lower half of her face like a mask.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a dream," Cavalier muttered. ~The same nightmare. The same history. The past I keep reliving.~

"Musta been one hell of a dream," Zodiac replied. "We heard ye screamin' all the way down in the med labs."

Cavalier snorted. "What the hell were you two doing together in the med lab? I generally try to AVOID people I can't stand." She smirked and turned to the red female-trying desperately not to think of how much Stormrave looked like a Seeker-and asked, "Come to think of it, why were you in the med lab at all? I thought you were paranoid about medics."

"I figured it would shut Guppy-bot here up," Stormrave retorted with a jerk of her head at Zodiac. She began imitating the medic. "Ye needs a check-up, ye's gonna break down in the middle of a dogfight."

"Or ye could just stay on the ground like normal Autobots," Zodiac retorted, "'stead'a flyin' off to play in the sky."

"I'd rather die, exhaust breath."

"Just some advice, Pidgi-Con."

"I do NOT look like a Decepticon, junk-for-brains!"

Cavalier rolled her eyes. "Look, you two, if you're going to kill each other can you do it outside, and quietly? I need some rest..."

The ever-battling duo broke off and were about to comply when Ultra Magnus stepped into the room. "Stormrave. I was hoping I'd find you," he said.

"What's up?" the red jet asked.

"Sky Patrol's being sent to the outport planet Meridian-D. There's a peaceful Autobot settlement there that's recently come under heavy fire by the Decepticons. The 'Cons are making a push to take the whole string of planets that orbit the Delta-Tau star. Rodimus is there right now, leading the Autobot defence, but we need Sky Patrol to provide air cover for the city."

Stormrave saluted. "I'm on it."

"Zodiac, I want you along on the mission to support the Meridian-D medical staff. There's been some casualties in the city."

The medic nodded in agreement.

"You have twenty-six hours to get ready before the shuttle departs the airfield. Be there. Sky Patrol have been sent out already to prepare the ship. You can meet up with them at the shuttle."

"Can I go too?" Cavalier asked. "I wanna kick Decepticon tailsection!"

Ultra Magnus paused, considering. "We do need some gunnery support...I'll ask Jazz if he's willing to take you."

"Kick ass!"

"Ass?" Ultra Magnus repeated.

"Earth terminology," Zodiac replied quickly.

"Mmm," the blue rocket truck said, glancing down at his clipboard as he exited.

"Ye really shouldn't do that," Zodiac muttered as soon as Ultra Magnus was out of earshot. The warning, however, was pretty much wasted-Cavalier and Stormrave were already weak with laughter.

#

In the middle of the nearby city, someone else was laughing too, but very quietly...so quietly that passersby could only notice a faint whistling noise in the air. The sound was lost on the two gang toughs sauntering down the sidewalk.

"Look," Duke hissed, elbowing his companion in the ribs, "tell me it isn't our lucky night!"

Brew, Duke's sidekick, looked in the direction the gang leader was pointing and saw a shiny red Chevrolet Beretta. The classic vehicle had obviously been well-maintained, but it was sitting against the curb with its driver's side door hanging open.

"Gimme ten seconds and I can hotwire it for ya," Brew offered.

"Don't hafta." Duke peered into the vehicle. "They left the keys in it."

"In THIS end of town?" Brew laughed. "I think they WANT us to steal it!"

This whistling noise was louder now, but neither man noticed the sound that emanated from beneath the vehicle's hood...a noise that made it seem as if the car were laughing to itself.

"Then let's oblige 'em," Duke said smugly, settling himself into the driver's seat. Brew sprinted around the car and knocked on the passenger door; Duke grinned and opened it for him. "Time to burn rubber," Duke laughed after Brew was in. He reached for the ignition...

The hologram of a key vanished beneath his hand. "What the...?" Duke muttered.

Suddenly, the door locks snapped shut. The engine started up of its own volition.

"What the hell is going on?" Brew cried, and just then the transmission slid to DRIVE. Both men were thrown back in their seats as the red Beretta peeled off into the street. This time, they could both hear the whistling laughter very, very clearly before the stereo kicked in..."Danger Zone" from the "Top Gun" soundtrack.

The car drove itself. Bizarrely, Duke remembered seeing Disney's "Love Bug" as a little kid and thinking that the car with a mind of its own was really, really neat. ~Neat, hell. It was damn scary,~ Duke realized now. It didn't help that the red Beretta drove like a maniac, swerving in and out of traffic, cutting people off, driving over curbs, sending pedestrians running for their lives. Duke tried to steer, but the wheel did not respond to his maneuvers. "It's the Love Bug from hell!" Duke yelled.

"Love Bug, fuck, it's Stephen King's Christine!" Brew wailed. "Lemme out, please, lemme out!"

The maniac car left the city and headed for the highway. Duke and Brew were about to breathe sighs of relief that they were out of the populated area...less stuff to hit...when their attention became completely taken up with the large army truck headed towards them and the fact that the red Beretta was driving in the wrong lane.

"OH MY GOD!" Duke screamed, and in that moment he saw nothing sissy about clinging desperately to Brew as if the other man were a teddy bear.

The green truck swerved at the last moment. Duke and Brew whimpered as the car came to a halt...and then turned around and headed back for another pass at the truck, which had also turned around. Duke felt his guts turn to ice as he realized that no one was driving the truck, either...and then he passed out.

Brew, on the other hand, was a nervous wreck when the red car tired of playing games with the truck and headed back into the city. Brew crouched on the floor, too afraid to even look out the windows. Finally, the car opened its door and shook itself, sending a powerful vibration through its frame that threw Duke and Brew out the open door.

They landed in front of the local police station. Brew didn't even care that the police recognized him and Duke at once as the culprits in several local auto thefts. In fact, he was quite happy to be going to jail...somewhere far away from automobiles of all kinds.

The red Beretta kept driving, its whistling laughter echoing behind it. Suddenly the thundering music cut out, replaced by a British-accented voice. "Beretta! Deuce! Are you quite done playing with those flesh creatures?"

"Yeah, Harrier, whatcha want?" the red vehicle replied, still whistling laughter.

"The Boss wants us back at the spaceship pronto, old girl. Sally forth!"

"Roger. Deuce, you copy?"

"Got it," the heavy truck's voice replied.

"Seeya there. Beretta out."

#

KILAIR

Beretta, Deuce, Harrier, and Chopper left Earth twenty-one hours before Sky Patrol. While Sky Patrol's ship was en route for Meridian-D, the four Decepticons had spent an entire day relaxing in their headquarters and waiting for their leader to arrive. Harrier and Chopper were engaged in a game of darts-a game that had been interrupted by a fight over whether or not Chopper was allowed to use throwing knives instead of the regulation projectiles-and both Beretta and Deuce were observing with great interest, when the Decepticons' leader stepped into the room.

"Home sweet home," the yellow Seeker said, looking around the main room of the building that had once been the residence of the mayor of Silicia, capital of Kilair. The room now bore spray-painted Decepticon logos and signs proclaiming PHOENIX CORPS. "Nice decor, troops. Now put down those darts. I've got something to discuss with you."

Harrier complied, and while Chopper whined under his breath, he joined the other three. All four Decepticons took seats in front of a cracked pane, leaving their leader at the head of the room. Behind them, the square of translucent material served as a window over the now-vacant capital city of a planet that had once teemed with life.

"This place is just as much a hole as I remember it," Chopper muttered, as the five members of the squadron lounged around their makeshift briefing room.

"Silence!" the leader barked. "Kilair is my homeworld, and our staging base, and you will show it some respect!"

"I hate this place," the helicopter muttered to Deuce. "I hated this place when I lived here, and I still hate this place."

Harrier stepped up to the leader. "I say, old girl, what's gotten into you? We were having such a lovely time on Earth...a shame you couldn't join us...and now you drag us clear across the galaxy just to check up on our old headquarters? Who do you think's going to come here? There's no life in this solar system."

"My concern is not this solar system. It's the next one over. While you four were enjoying your Terran vacation, I was doing some investigating. The Decepticon forces are making a big push in the neighbouring Delta-Tau system. I think it's time we made a big push as well."

"Push?" Deuce frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Phoenix Corps," the yellow Seeker said formally as she addressed her troops, "I put to you a choice. For many galactic cycles we have risen from a rag-tag band of outlaws to the most feared pack of raiders in the galaxy. We can maintain our current position with little effort. But I say to you now, do you want to be a pirate gang all your lives? Do you want to spend the rest of your existence as simple thugs? Or do you want something better...something greater...something noble out of life?"

Beretta tilted her head and whistled.

"I believe that it is time Kilairian Squadron took its place where it belongs...in the ranks of the Decepticon army."

"Decepticon army," Harrier breathed. "We're going to be real soldiers."

"That's right," the yellow Seeker said, walking back and forth in front of her troops. "Oh, we could have joined the main cause before, but I know what would have happened to us...we'd have ended up simple cannon fodder. No. Phoenix Corps is meant for something better, and that is why I waited. We are now a team-a battle hardened fighting force-and we are strong and able. In the last few astrocycles we have created ourselves a bargaining position. We have reserves of stolen energon and many credits, which will ensure that our voice is heard. We have experience that cannot be wasted foolishly. We are now able to parley on a fair basis and ensure that we receive our just reward." She came to a halt. "So I say to you now: who is with me? Who will help make Phoenix Corps not a gang of raiders, but a respected Stormtrooper Unit of the Decepticon Army?"

Beretta, Deuce and Harrier raised their arms and cheered.

"I dunno," Chopper sneered. "I ain't one to take orders from some overblown general."

"You can do as you please," the leader replied. "However, I can say with certainty that the rest of the squadron will follow me." She nodded at the trio with their arms in the air and then focused on Chopper. "You may return to your old life, scrounging alone in the sludgeholes of the galaxy. Or, you may join the Decepticon Army with us...where, I may tell you, I am certain they will have many uses for an individual with your...special interrogation techniques."

The helicopter's optics narrowed into bright glowing slits. "You mean I get to chop stuff up?"

"How many Autobots can that blade of yours handle?" Deuce laughed.

"I'm in!"

#

Many battles are won by a trick of fate. Many others are avoided for similar reasons. Phoenix Corps' spaceship had just broken through the atmosphere of the planet when another craft became visible in the Kilairian sky...Sky Patrol's ship. The ship flew slowly, erratically, as if partly disabled...

...which it was. The port engines had exploded, and the ship had drifted badly off course while the Autobots inside had struggled to put out the fire. The ship's condition was now stabilized, which meant that the Autobots' next objective was finding out where they were and correcting their course.

"I can't imagine what went wrong," Kismet muttered. "I checked the engines before we took off."

"My money's on Decepticon sabotage," Longshock grumbled, unfolding his map.

"You've got a point," Stormrave admitted, and Longshock looked surprised that his leader would acknowledge the comment. It was no secret that Longshock didn't like Stormrave much, and ordinarily his biting pessimism made him difficult to handle. The rest of Sky Patrol had a half-joking theory that no matter what happened, Longshock would find a way to blame it on the Decepticons.

Firestreak laughed over the shuttle controls. "Come on, Captain, this is from the guy who, every time he misplaces his gun, thinks a Decepticon tractor beam stole it." Sky Patrol snickered; Longshock scowled.

"Seriously though," Stormrave said, "Blaster was telling me that they've been having a problem with Decepticon sabotage around Autobot City lately. I'd believe it. It's not really the point, now. The point now is where are we, and how can we get back on course."

"Well, rather than blundering about the galaxy, maybe we ought to find a planet to put down on until we figure out our position," Sunflare suggested.

"That would give me a chance to look over the engines from outside," Kismet added.

"Good idea. Anybody see a suitable planet?" Stormrave asked.

Cavalier, silent up to now as she watched Zodiac tinker with the hazardous-gases warning equipment, looked out the window and pointed. "There's something..." She whipped out a pair of long-range binoculars to augment her zoom vision. "It looks like it's got forests, probably silicon-based, and there's a big empty patch near the center..."

"Steer a course, then," Stormrave directed Firestreak.

Although the crippled Autobot craft was a perfect target for Phoenix Corps' pirate vessel, none of the Decepticons saw it. They were heading in the opposite direction, setting course for Charr...and their date with their destiny as a full-fledged Decepticon battle unit.


	2. Chapter 2

**The Last Kilairian**

**Chapter the Second**

"Everybody intact?" Stormrave asked, as the shuttle landed with a bump on the strange planet.

A murmur went around the ship. "Affirmative," Zodiac reported.

"Longshock, you're navigator. Have you figured out where we are?"

"We are on the fifth planet orbiting the Delta-Epsilon star. That's the solar system beside the Delta-Tau star, where Meridian-D is."

"Great, we're not even in the right slottin' solar system," the hot-tempered Firestreak muttered.

Stormrave, however, seemed oddly distracted. "Let me see that map." She practically tore it out of Longshock's hands. "Oh Primus..."

"Let's take a look at this place," Cavalier suggested, yanking the hatch open. Sunflare and Firestreak crowded around the door...and gasped at the sight that met their eyes.

It wasn't canyons they'd seen on the way down. It was a city. A city that had obviously been built by intelligent and advanced life forms. However, there was no sign of native intelligence now. The city was unmoving in the stillness, silent as a tomb. The ship was sitting in a wide open area, perhaps a park. The ruins of a street were clearly visible, and across the street were several half-demolished buildings. Perhaps the eeriest thing of all was not the devastation of the city, but the fact that it teemed with life...life that consisted entirely of silicon-based plants. Metallic vines snaked over almost every imaginable surface, and shiny flowers bloomed in a rainbow of gleaming colours.

"This wasn't natural decay," Sunflare muttered. "Look, you can still see the laser burns on the walls...and I'll bet my core processor that those craters were left by explosives."

"Place has been abandoned a long time," Kismet breathed.

"We shouldn't have any trouble finding parts for our ship in a place like this," Zodiac said optimistically.

"Unless there's hidden dangers," Longshock retorted darkly. "Betcha ten credits those plants eat Autobots for lunch."

Stormrave stepped forward, looking out at the abandoned city. Her hand clutched Zodiac's shoulder in a desperately tight grip.

"Ow! Stormer, cut it..."

She spoke overtop of his words, her voice distant. "There's no danger here. Not any more."

"And how would you know?" Longshock muttered.

She ignored him, stepping slowly down the gangplank as if something was drawing her towards the alien soil. When she stood on the ground, her head swung from side to side and she spoke. "The fifth planet of the Delta-Epsilon star...we called that star Tiomus."

"Stormer?" Cav asked, darting forward. "Stormer, what's wrong?"

Stormrave turned back to the group. "Sky Patrol...welcome to Kilair."

"Kilair," Zodiac breathed. "Stormrave's home planet."

Cavalier gasped. "This is where you came from?"

"Until the Decepticons destroyed it." She nodded curtly. "Old ghosts, Cav. Old memories. Right now, we don't have time for the past. We have to get the ship repaired and get where we're going before the Decepticons make mincemeat out of Meridian-D. Kismet, you're the mechanic...go figure out what's wrong with the ship. Sunflare, Longshock, I want you to scout the area and make sure we're really alone. As far as I know, the only survivors of the Decepticon raid fled this planet and allied themselves with the Autobots. The planet should be deserted. Treat any contacts as potential hostiles. Cav, when Kismet figures out how much damage we've taken, I'm going to detail you and Firestreak to go get parts from the former workshops. There ought to be..." her voice choked for a moment "...a lot of salvage..."

"Stormer, are you all right?" Zodiac asked.

"Yeah." Her voice was low and steely.

"Ye doesn't sound all right..."

""I'se" fine," she retorted mockingly. "Though I can't say the same for those who trashed this place, when I get ahold of them." There was an angry flash beneath the visor, and then Stormrave transformed into a jet and took off into the Kilairian sky.

Cav exchanged a worried glance with Zodiac. "I really don't like her going off on her own," the white female muttered.

"Me, either. Look, Stormer's got you and Firestreak assigned to go find parts for the ship, but she pretty much ignored me. And I've just assigned myself to follow her." Without leaving any time for argument, Zodiac transformed into a sedan and began trailing the red aircraft as best he could.

#

CHARR

Phoenix Corps' shuttle had barely touched down on Charr when it was ringed by a crowd of curious and bored Decepticons. As the five crew members left the ship, Hook sneered at them and whispered to his fellow Constructions, "Well, what have we here?"

"Pathetic pathetic pathetic!" Mixmaster chanted.

The other Constructicons nodded their approval. The construction-Decepticons all sported matching paint schemes of purple and bright green. The newcomers, however, were all colours of the rainbow...from bright red to dull khaki, from camouflage green and brown to clashing blueberrry and orange. Four of the five carried black cases in their hands; their weapons hung at their sides.

Motormaster broken into sardonic laughter. "And look at that little shrimp of a leader." He gestured to the yellow female in the lead. "A leader should be proper size to strike fear into his followers." He glared at the other Stunticons and smirked contentedly as they all cowered.

"Hey, wait a minute..." Dead End squinted for a better look. "She's a Seeker!"

"So?" Scavenger retorted.

"So how're they gonna form a giant robot? Seekers don't gestalt."

"Maybe she's modified," Long Haul suggested.

"I'd think it more likely that they don't even gestalt at all," Hook replied. "Look at 'em. What a mismatched bunch. A car, a truck, a jump jet, a light helicopter, and a Seeker."

The yellow leader heard the comments, but didn't dignify them with a response. She noticed that Deuce was twitching with discomfort and that Harrier had a vice-grip on Chopper's shoulder, warning the little blueberry-and-orange robot to show some restraint.

"Boss, let's slag 'em!" Chopper whispered. "Please?"

"Not yet," she growled back. "Trust me, we'll have our chance..."

"Halt!" Scourge ordered as Phoenix Corps approached the doors to the inner sanctum. "Identify yourselves!"

The yellow Seeker stepped forward fearlessly. "I am Tempest, leader of Phoenix Corps, and we wish to speak with Galvatron."

"Galvatron is busy. He and Cyclonus are preparing a major assault."

"Then he should be grateful for a little assistance."

Scourge examined the five newcomers. "You hardly seem capable of offering much in the way of assistance."

Tempest's optics narrowed. "What kind of proof do you need?"

"What resources do you possess?"

"I do not need to answer to you-only to Galvatron. But in gesture of our good faith, we offer you this." She gestured to her subordinates. Each of them opened his or her case, and each case was filled with galactic credits. Scourge and the other Decepticons near enough to see were plainly shocked by the sight.

"I think I can arrange for a meeting," Scourge said stiffly.

#

KILAIR

Chasing an aircraft was difficult for a vehicle on the ground. Not only was a jet considerably faster than a car, but a car was bound by roads, whereas an aircraft flew smoothly past all but the highest obstructions. Zodiac was certain that Stormrave would escape him, but fortunately, his sensors told him that she hadn't flown far. He located her sitting on an outcropping of rock on the cliff wall that overlooked the dead city, and the fact that she was resting there gave Zodiac the time he needed to navigate the overgrown roads of the city and make his way up to the cliff.

Zodiac was halfway up the cliff when he noticed Stormrave getting to her feet. ~Dammit,~ he thought, ~all this work and she's going to fly away the second I get close! Has she seen me?~

"Stormrave!" he cried, but the wind whipped his words away. The red female took a few steps back, then ran for the brink of the cliff. She leaped into the air, transforming as she did so, and the red jet fell from sight. The medic could hear no sound of engines. He jerked to a stop at the top of the cliff, transforming and stepping forward to peer over the edge...

...and the red jet rose up, silently, borne on a current of wind that travelled over the plain, over the city, and up the cliff wall, causing an updraft that was pushing Stormrave aloft.

"Stormy!" Zodiac cried.

The jet barrel-rolled and turned in the sky until its nose cone faced him. "Zodiac?" Stormrave fired her engines, gliding closer, and then transformed, landing neatly beside him.

"What the frigg were you doing up here?"

"Gliding." She grinned, then looked out over the distant plain and whispered, "My best friend and I used to come up here all the time. We shut off our engines and spent hours gliding like that."

"What happened to her?" Zodiac asked softly.

Stormrave shrugged. "I guess she died when the Decepticons blitzed the place. I never really found out." A note of pain crept into the red jet's nonchalant attitude.

"Ye never went looking for her?"

"How could I? Zodiac, I saw two friends of mine blown to pieces before my eyes. I saw my teacher shot in the back by a Decepticon. I saw my home caved in by a bomb. I barely got out myself, and I've never been back...until now."

"Do ye want to go back to the shuttle?" he suggested gently. "You could wait there until we fixed it."

"Why, you think I'm chicken?"

"No, I..."

She bowed her head. "Sorry. I know what you meant. You wanted to know if this was too hard for me. And no...no, it's not. I think I needed to see this." She looked out over the city that had once been her home, and slowly raised her visor. Ruby eyes gazed down on the overgrown ruins, and her face showed a hint of surprise, as if she'd partly expected the scenery to change now that she was no longer looking through the filter of the visor.

And without the visor, there was no protection between her optics and the dead city below...a city that became a screen for a movie...a movie from the past.

#

FLASHBACK-KILAIR

Where had they come from? What had brought it on? It had been a day just like any other...middle of the afternoon, not raining, but somewhat cloudy. A day when two little Kilairians, both of them jet-type robots, played together on their last school break period before the last two classes, and then freedom.

~What were we playing?~ There were holes in this movie. Stormrave didn't remember. A chase game, it seems...there was the little red girl, chasing the yellow one. That image was clear.

And then the explosion lit up the eastern sky.

"What was that?" the yellow female-designate asked.

"Look at that!" Her friend pointed up at the mushroom cloud. "Wow!"

"It came from over near the fuel works," the yellow one said with a quaver in her voice.

Almost automatically, the red Seeker transformed into jet mode. "Let's go see!"

"Raver, we'll get in trouble! We aren't supposed to leave the school grounds!" But the impetuous red one was already leaving, followed somewhat reluctantly by her more timid friend.

And Stormrave's curiousity had saved both their lives.

Behind them, another concussion went off and flung them headfirst across the street.

"Are you all right?" the red one asked, as she transformed and crawked out of the rubble that had sprung up around her.

The yellow Seeker was already back in robot mode and pointing back at the school. Her friend followed her line of sight...and gasped at the smouldering ruin that lay devastated in the center of the playground. There were a few survivors...children running about wildly, screaming. The red female recognized a little blue sports-car type and waved wildly. He caught sight of her at last, and began sprinting towards them...

...and then a black figure descended out of the sky, wielding a laser blade, thoughtlessly cutting the little blue robot in two.

The two girls cried out-the red one in anger, the yellow one in fear. More of the black strangers were landing in the schoolyard now. The troops were trimmed with bright green, evidently all wearing the colours of the same unit, and they had odd purple logos on their wings. Their leader...the one who had killed the little boy...was trimmed with orange instead. He barked an order to his men. "Destroy them all. Quickly. Any who survive the initial purge, we can play with at our leisure, but in the meantime we must decimate the population before they can organize a coordinated assault."

"Run!" Stormrave yelled to her friend.

"But..." The yellow Seeker looked back at the yard, in time to see another little robot decapitated by one of the raiders. Stormrave, looking back, saw the hideous sight and the look of blunt shock spreading across the yellow jet's features.

"RUN!" Stormrave transformed into jet mode and took off, with her friend close behind. The yellow jet's wings rocked...

...from all these years later, Stormrave knew now that her friend had been in combat shock, but then, all she had known was that the yellow jet was acting slow, almost stupid, and not reacting as she should have.

They'd lingered too long. The leader's hot eyes had fallen upon the two little aircraft and a cruel smile split his lips. As the two females fled, the black robot transformed into a sleek space cruiser and took off in hot pursuit, blasting after them. They stayed low to the ground, weaving through the buildings, hoping the structures would provide cover if they could lose the enemy on their tails. It was like every game of tag or hide and seek they'd ever played, only now they were playing for their lives. Either the strategy would work, or they were dead.

"He's gaining!" Stormrave's friend cried madly, and then a backfire sounded from her left engine.

"What's wrong?"

"Hurt...in the explosion...can't keep up!" And it was true...the yellow plane was falling further and further behind.

"Split up!" Stormrave yelled, popping her flaps so the yellow jet could pass her, then zipping straight across the black raider's nose and into a side alley. Sure enough, just as Stormrave had hoped, the space cruiser followed her...

...but then a volley of laser blasts sounded from the street where the other little female had flown.

Had they killed her? Stormrave couldn't even turn to see. The black leader was right behind her now. She jinked left and right, and none of his shots hit her, but her maneuvers were slowing her down. Any minute now, he would catch her...

...unless...

She pulled vertical and drove her power to the maximum. She could feel her engines overheating, but ignored the pain just as she was ignoring the warning buzzers screaming in her audio sensors. The black spaceship was built for strength and endurance, not speed, and it was clear that he didn't have the thrust to follow her...either that, or he couldn't be bothered. He pushed out of the climb and circled back towards the burning city.

Stormrave got only the barest glimpse of the street where her friend had disappeared. She saw a semi-circle of black raiders looking down at something on the ground, but no trace of a yellow and blue child. As she climbed, the city blurred beneath her. She swore she could smell the fires until the moment before she broke through the planet's atmosphere and went screaming out into space, a tiny red arrow lost in an infinite darkness.

#

~It ain't right,~ Zodiac kept thinking as Stormrave told her story. Finally, the red jet's voice cracked and gave out; her lips set into a thin line. There was so much hurt reflected in those ruby optics...

Impulsively, almost instinctively, he put his arms around her. When he realized what he was doing, he fully expected Stormrave to smack him one. She'd always been extremely possessive of her personal space and...

Instead, she rested her head on his shoulder and sobbed into his neck. Awkward, uncertain, he stroked her back, admiring the dance of light on those beautiful wings and feeling the warmth from her air vents. He could sense her body relaxing.

Abruptly, she jerked up, staring him full in the face with those red, red eyes. She tilted her head, smiling a little. He barely knew what to do...she was only about an inch away and...

Stormrave bowed her head just a little, letting her nose touch his.

~She's not gonna...~

No, she wasn't moving.

He summoned up all his courage and moved himself, the few millimetres it took to touch his mouth to hers.

She wasted no time starting the kiss, and he had no qualms about kissing her back.

Zodiac's head spun. Stormy...the Sky Patrol Commander...liked him? Him?

She looked rather uncertain as the kiss finally broke. He managed his best smile, which he knew damn well looked completely stupid and goofy, but she didn't seem to mind. She was smiling back.

"We'd better get back to the others," she whispered, "before they come out looking for us."

Zodiac, still somewhat disoriented, nodded his agreement. Somehow he managed to transform and follow the red jet back towards the ruined city.

#

CHARR

"Your credentials are impressive," Galvatron said musingly, "but I'm not convinced. We place great value on our combiner teams."

Tempest frowned.

"Come." Galvatron strode from his quarters, back outside, where the bored Constructicons and Stunticons lounged about. "Show her the power of our gestalts. Form Devastator and Menasor!"

Leering, the Decepticon teams merged and formed two gigantic robots.

"See the power! See the might! See the brute force that is at my command!"

"Do the Autobots have this technology?" Tempest asked Beretta.

The Bird nodded, whistling. "Superion, Defensor."

Tempest grinned coldly and leaned over to the Decepticon leader, who seemed lost in contemplation of the power he commanded. "And the Autobots, can your gestalts hold their own against their Autobot counterparts?"

Galvatron scowled and his arms fell. "They are, at the very least, their equals," he admitted. "Nevertheless, little robots like your motley squadron are no use against them!"

"I believe that my squadron holds an advantage," Tempest replied coolly. "I did not take in just any robot I came across. Phoenix Corps is a team, and each member has a distinct specialty that compliments the others." She smiled craftily as Menasor began to jerk around; she could intuit that the smaller robots that made up Menasor's limbs did not get along well with their leader and main unit, causing a lack of coordination in the gestalt form. "Furthermore, we have not been obliged to maintain troublemakers. I have chosen only the best to join my team."

"Still," Galvatron laughed, "can your team take on my gestalts?"

Tempest looked him squarely in the eye. "Do we have your permission to prove our point?"

Galvatron paused, then smiled cruelly. "Be my guest."

The yellow Seeker faced her troops. "Phoenix Corps...Transform!"

Certain that the rest of the squadron would follow her, Tempest did not wait for the others to transform but immediately began to exploit Menasor's lack of coordination. She fired her lasers, aiming for his joints with unerring accuracy and exacerbating the robot's already unstable condition. Menasor flailed his hands wildly, but did not come anywhere near the nimble Seeker who danced just out of reach.

Devastator, operating smoothly as usual, took it upon himself to help his fellow giant. However, he soon found himself with troubles of his own as the rest of Phoenix Corps joined the fray. The helicopter landed on his left shoulder, transforming into a little robot who began gleefully hacking away at his shoulder joint with a long lasersword. His right arm came under heavy fire from a brown-and-green jump jet that actually managed to fly underneath his arm and hover there, firing at the joints. Devastator tried to step on the red car that was circling his left foot and firing up at the hip joint, but no sooner did he raise his left foot when he felt his body sway. The khaki robot, huge on his own but comically dwarfed by the monstrous Devastator, nevertheless was remarkably strong as he threw his weight against Devastator's right leg.

Devastator planted his left foot to kick out with the right, but a needle of pain shot through his combined nervous system, telling him that one of the red car's throwing knives had hit home and caught in a connecting gear. Meanwhile, the helicopter succeeded in severing the connections of the left arm.

Menasor was faring little better. He spun in circles, chasing the yellow jet, and soon tripped over his own feet. As Tempest's adversary landed hard, the shock of the impact caused Menasor to break apart into his component robots. Tempest then joined her troops, pressing in on Devastator for the kill, peppering the huge Constructicon's head with shots as her followers severed his limbs, one by one. Finally, the Constructicons half chose to break apart and half found themselves separated by force.

Phoenix Corps touched down neatly and faced the Stunticons and Constructicons.

"How dare they make me look stupid!" Motormaster raged. "Galvatron, I will take these upstarts apart!"

Tempest's optics darted over the eleven robots facing her squadron. The odds were worse than two on one, and the individual Decepticons would be harder to take apart than those lumbering oafs...but she was convinced her warriors could do it, if they had to. However, the losses would be steep. Inside, Tempest's fuel tank quaked somewhat nervously; outside, her steely expression never flinched. To show weakness now would be a fatal mistake.

"If you wish another defeat than so be it," she said, nary a quaver in her voice.

"Hold," Galvatron ordered, as she'd gambled that he would. "We require no more fighting amongst ourselves. If you can do that to Defensor and Superion, then you are more than welcome among us."

Behind her, Beretta and Deuce high-fived one another. Harrier clasped the startled Chopper's hand in a vigorous shake.

Tempest allowed just the faintest hint of a smile to cross her face. "As you say, mighty Galvatron."

#


	3. Chapter 3

**The Last Kilairian**

**Chapter the Third**

MERIDIAN-D

"About time we got here," Longshock grumbled as the shuttle touched down.

"Yeah, wouldn't want all the Decepticons to be dead by the time we got here, eh?" Firestreak slapped his sullen comrade on the back and peered out the window, optics glittering. "Just wait until I get my hands on 'em...you can mail the remains back to Charr in a last-class envelope!"

"Firestreak, this isn't a vendetta," Stormrave said sternly. "We're here to protect the people of Meridian-D, NOT take out our own feelings on the Decepticons." She opened the shuttle door and took a look around. Wreckage still littered the surrounding area, giving silent evidence to a recent Decepticon attack. "I've got a feeling we arrived when we were needed most."

The six Sky Patrol members, Zodiac, and Cavalier were given directions to Autobot headquarters by a Meridianese attendant. They transformed for the journey, which led them through the heart of the capital city.

"Damn war," Zodiac muttered as he drove along the streets of Ethanal City. These buildings, too, were scarred by war-not just factories or fortresses, but homes and schools. The faces of the robots who lived there had taken on a new concern, a new terror, in the last few astrocycles. "This woulda been a really pretty place before Galvatron's crew came along."

"And it will be again, when we're through," Stormrave added. She transformed, clapped a hand on the medic's dashboard and smiled...but quickly transformed back when Cavalier looked their way.

"Slaggin' Decepticons," Cavalier cursed. "I can't wait until we've kicked the sludge out of every damn Decepticon in the universe."

Zodiac felt a pang as he imagined the expression that would be on Stormrave's face, if it were visible in her jet form. Instead, the red jet soared a little higher in the sky, as if trying to climb away from Cavalier's words. He winced as the white Autobot continued her rant. ~Shut up, Cav,~ he thought, wishing there was a way he could silently transmit his desires to her system. ~Shut up, don't you realize how you're making Stormy feel?~ But of course, Cavalier didn't realize...Stormrave didn't exactly make a habit of letting everyone know what was under that red armoured skin.

What was under there was not something that Stormrave had made a habit of telling people about. Kup knew...he'd been there when Stormrave had told the truth to Optimus Prime when she'd first come to Cybertron. Macroburst, the medic from Stormrave's home world, had known...but he was dead now. Zodiac realized with a chill that only he and Kup remained of those who knew Stormer's secret.

Zodiac, in his capacity as a medic, knew her secret well. All the Autobot logos in the world couldn't change the arteries of red military-hardware wiring that snaked through Stormrave's limbs and led, in the end, to a Decepticon-design central processing unit. Zodiac had seen this...and the serial number...1037605D2907 SKR-2B. Seeker Model 2 B.

Zodiac didn't care. He firmly believed that it was a being's spark, its true heart, that mattered. Stormrave was a good person and he couldn't care less how she was wired.

But as he listened to Cavalier screaming beside him, he knew that not everyone would see it the same way he would. How would Cavalier-who hated Decepticons with an all-consuming passion-deal with the truth about Stormrave?

Zodiac remembered what Stormrave had said to him when he'd found out. "I couldn't deal with everyone questioning my loyalty," she'd said. "I couldn't deal with hearing them whispering behind my back. I know Sky Patrol would hesitate to follow me into battle, and I know they'd be afraid to trust me to watch their backs. I couldn't lead them, if they knew. It'd damage the team's effectiveness. Please, Zodiac, you can't tell anyone..."

And so he'd promised. ~It's not fair,~ he raged now, ~not fair that Stormer has to suffer just 'cause she's wired as a Decepticon...she never even fought as a Decepticon! She came from an isolated little planet where no one even knew what an Autobot or a Decepticon was-her forebears left Cybertron right after the Quintessons' defeat! It ain't her fault...ain't her fault...~

What could he do, though? He felt so...so...helpless. And the war-scarred city didn't help. Why the hell couldn't people learn to respect all life and get along with each other? But he certainly couldn't stop the Intergalactic War singlehandedly, any more than he could convince everyone to accept Stormrave for what she was.

~Can't even help one jet. How can I expect to save the whole galaxy?~

#

OUTER SPACE-BOUND FOR MERIDIAN-D

"This is it," Harrier whispered to himself, staring out the porthole of the shuttle. "No more piracy. No more seedy space bars. We're warriors now...heading for the big time."

"This is what you wanted, isn't it?" Deuce rumbled softly.

"Ever since the Autobots destroyed my home base, long ago. We win the war, we stabilize the entire universe under Decepticon rule, and I find myself a nice little planet to retire to and spend the rest of my life relaxing and hunting turbofoxes."

Deuce nodded, slowly. "Comrades in arms. That's what we are, now. Not a pirate gang. Real soldiers."

"Don't let yourselves get soft," Tempest warned from behind them. "Remember, what we learned in the scumholes of the universe is what got us here, and it's what's going to see us through all the battles to come."

Chopper was unusually quiet as he carefully sharpened his big laser sword and his smaller knives, chuckling gleefully to himself. Tempest gave him a cursory glance, her optics slowly travelling over the form of the Metal Bird, who was deep in sleep cycle, and towards the porthole on the opposite side of the ship.

Leaving Harrier and Deuce to their conversation, Tempest directed her attention out the window of the ship. Out there in the starry void, countless stars twinkled. Some of them had planets, planets that would someday be hers to command. Planets that offered up their shares of energy and valuables like displays in a shopping depot, ripe for the picking, tempting her to choose whatever she wanted for her own. All the riches of the universe were so much closer tonight.

And then Tempest's attention was drawn to the spaces between the stars. Dark...shadowy...eternal blackness. Somewhere out there in the darkness, not very far from where she was headed, was her old homeworld...Kilair.

#

MERIDIAN-D

Cavalier sauntered casually into the med lab. "Where's Stormer?"

"The Pidgeon-Bot is out on patrol with the rest of the flying fools," Zodiac said sarcastically, secretly afraid that Cavalier would see through his charade.

"You know, maybe you shouldn't pick on her so much," the white female replied. "It's a pain in the tailgate to have to listen to my best friends fighting all the time."

~What the hell am I supposed to say?~ Zodiac thought. ~That I'm in love with the Sky Patrol Commander? Me, the little pacifist who can barely bring himself to pick up a gun, and her, the Autobot military historian? Me, the worst shot on Cybertron, and her, the terror of the Sweeps? Me, who cowers in the med labs when the Decepticons attack, and her, always in the thick of the fighting? That'll be the astrocycle...~ He sighed. ~She deserves a real soldier...not me.~

In fact, his greatest dread was having to face Stormrave's laughter when she found out about his stupid crush on her. ~The kiss...that had been a mistake, a brief glitch, nothing more,~ he thought. ~She was just emotional, after telling me all that stuff...we're friends, nothing more. That kiss didn't mean anything. It was an accident.~

So instead of saying anything, he simply shrugged.

"Busy?" Cav asked.

"Nope."

"Let's go check out the city, then. Meet the locals."

"Why not. I'se gettin' a little low on fuel anyway."

"Great. Let's go find us a place to juice up."

#

Elsewhere, not that far away-and far too close for the Autobots' liking-stood the Decepticon staging base on Meridian-D. As Phoenix Corps' shuttle landed, Deuce roused Beretta from her sleep cycle. Chopper was fairly dancing around with excitement, and for once, Tempest didn't tell him to cut it out. Instead, she stood next to Harrier, watching as the jump-jet's optics grew wider.

"We're really here," Harrier breathed. "We've really reached the big time."

~So far from where we started,~ Tempest thought, knowing that he was thinking the same thing. "And here the work begins," she said aloud.

Harrier gave her a grin, an unspoken communication-Let's do it. Together.

She smiled back.

The doors opened and Tempest was greeted by a tall purple Decepticon. "You must be Cyclonus," the yellow Seeker said.

"Tempest," Cyclonus replied, with a bit of a bow. "Galvatron informed me of your arrival. Allow me to show your team to your quarters."

She turned her head slightly, scanning the staging ground. It looked somewhat makeshift-of recent manufacture, and she could tell that some buildings were made of patched-together odds and ends-but as a whole, the base was more than serviceable. "Can you give me any more information on our mission here?" Tempest asked Cyclonus.

"I am Decepticon general on this planet. Our offensive extends throughout this solar system and Galvatron is busy directing the whole assault. You will be working in close correlation with Brigand, my Air Commander. You will be the head of our sabotage and special missions strike team."

"In short, we get all the nasty little jobs."

"You get the jobs requiring specialization, my..." He thought of calling her 'my dear,' noticed the cold expression in her optics, and corrected, "my comrade."

She nodded her approval. "Phoenix Corps can perform. I would like to meet this Brigand, though. We will on occasion require backup and I like to know and trust those who will hold the missions' success or failure in their hands."

Cyclonus nodded. "Fair enough. This way."

#

The gas bar would have had a nice atmosphere, Zodiac thought, if only he and Cavalier hadn't overheard the comments from the group of Meridian natives sitting at the next table. Now the vibes in the air were pure poison and only getting worse.

"You really think their Sky Patrol is going to be enough to protect us?" one of the robots had said.

His blue female companion had replied, "They may be young, but they're some of the best."

And then, the third robot-a red guy with a big mouth-had made the comment that ruined their evening. "You two would honestly trust a bunch of flying robots led by a slottin' Seeker?"

"What?" the first male had said.

"Look at their commander. The red femme. She's a damned Seeker."

"The one with the visor? But...she's an Autobot!" the female had protested.

"With that silhouette? I've been blitzed by enough Seekers to know one when I see one. Any money, she's a Decepticon spy at the very least."

"Or..." The first male was nervous. "What if Sky Patrol is really a Decepticon unit, just waiting for the time to destroy us all?"

Zodiac turned to Cavalier. "Let's leave," he suggested, but Cavalier had already overheard and her optics were glowing an angry blue.

The bigmouth muttered, "I say we tell Rodimus to take his Sky Patrol back to Cybertron. We don't need help from no red Seeker."

Cavalier rose, flinging her chair over backwards, stormed to the next table and slammed her hands on the surface.

"Look," Cavalier growled, "Stormrave does NOT look like a Seeker!"

The three Meridians looked skeptical.

"Number one," Cavalier said, "Seekers have red optics. Who knows if Stormer's even got proper optics at ALL behind that visor of hers? Number two, Seekers have DECEPTICON logos! Take a look at her wings. Do those look like Decepticon logos to you?" Her voice dripped sarcasm. "Number three, if she was a Seeker she'd be trying to kill you instead of saving your sorry tailgates from the Sweeps! And number four, she's my best friend, so if you ingrates have a problem you can take it up with me!"

The bigmouth got up and left while his two companions mumbled apologies.

"Jerks," Cavalier muttered. "Let's get out of here, Zodiac."

#

As the rest of Phoenix Corps staggered off with their gear-and big Deuce carrying a double load, both his and Tempest's-the yellow Seeker followed Cyclonus into the main command room of the base.

"Brigand!" Cyclonus called. "Someone to meet you."

Out of the dimness moved a space-shuttle Decepticon, black, with distinctive orange trim...a face Tempest knew she would never forget.

Kilair.

He was the leader of the raiders who had destroyed Kilair.

Brigand-so that was his name, for all these years she'd never known his name-crossed his arms and regarded her with a slight smile. Her fuel pump froze inside her as a quiver of fear wormed its way to her core processor. She set her face in an impassive mask, refusing to tremble before him. Her hands twitched, ready to go for the twin blue swords behind her back the second he moved towards her.

His arm was moving, but she waited...waited for the killing light in his optics...

Instead, he extended an empty hand.

"Pleased to meet you," the raider said. "Tempest of Phoenix Corps. You've made quite a name for yourself."

Somewhat surprised, she cocked her head.

"Modesty will get you nowhere, Commander Tempest. Word gets around the space bars, you know. Tempest, most feared raider of the galaxy, now a Decepticon commander."

"You were once a pirate yourself," she replied softly.

He chuckled. "Yes, well, those days are long gone. I've made a better living this way."

~He doesn't remember me,~ Tempest realized incredulously. On the heels of that thought came another: ~and why should he? What do I have in common now with that scared, soft little girl whose world he destroyed? Tempest of Kilair is dead! Tempest of Phoenix Corps lives, stronger for the experience, ready to seize the galaxy...~

~You cannot hate him. He has done you a favour.~

Smiling, she reached out and shook his hand.

#

Zodiac and Cavalier had just returned to the Autobot barracks when they were greeted by a stern-faced Kup. "You two have had your rest and relaxation for the night. Now it's time for the real fighting. There's a nasty 'Con offensive going on and I'm drafting you two into our backup squad."

"But I'se supposed to stay in the med lab!" Zodiac protested.

"Doesn't matter. We need everyone who can carry a gun."

Before he could protest, Zodiac found himself in auto mode, driving along in a formation of Autobots, cruising out of the city towards the barren desert that had become a battleground. Somewhere out there, over the horizon, was the oil field and refinery that had been converted into the Decepticon staging base. Closer, though still out of sight, a ground battle was raging. Lines of laser light split the sky. As the Autobots approached, Zodiac was able to see the tiny black arrowheads of aircraft, joining and parting in an intricate dance of death. One plane staggered for a moment in the sky-a gout of flame, visible even at the Autobots' distance, leapt from its side and it nosed over, tumbling towards earth, a fallen star.

~Stormy,~ Zodiac thought. A chill gripped him. ~Please, Primus, don't let that be Stormy.~ He pushed the thought from his mind. Dwelling on it would cripple his effectiveness in the fight to come, that's what Stormrave always said, and he had plenty of doubts about his effectiveness as it was.

~Primus, I hate this war.~

#

The battle was raging not too far from the Decepticon base, but Phoenix Corps wasn't engaged in it. They had been left at the base to unpack their gear into their private quarters. The five members were all occupying the same hallway, with Tempest getting the largest room at the end of the corridor.

"I can't believe we're stuck here," Chopper muttered, "while all the fun is going on out there."

"They need someone to defend the base," Deuce rumbled, "and even if we're not on active patrol duty, we're here as backup. Don't worry, we'll get our turn to fight. Relax."

"HIM? Relax?" Beretta started laughing. "Riiight..."

"Point taken," the big truck muttered, looking somewhat hurt. Beretta's laughter ceased instantly and she clutched Deuce by the hand-despite the khaki transport's massive size, Deuce's self-esteem was desperately low.

"Let's keep Mr. Hyper busy by checking out our new home," the red car suggested. Deuce smiled back at her, gripping her hand gratefully, and together they turned and walked down the corridor with Chopper darting maniacally in circles around them.

Harrier stepped out of his room, noticed the other three departing, and decided to wait inside until they had gone. Once the hallway was clear, he walked the few short steps to Tempest's room and knocked on the door.

"Come in," came the yellow Seeker's voice.

Harrier stepped through and closed the door using the touchpad on the other side. Tempest's private quarters were sparsely decorated. Phoenix Corps had always travelled lightly, and most of their belongings were still cached in the headquarters on Kilair. Tempest had hung a Decepticon flag over her recharging bay, and a few minor mementos graced a shelf. One item looked very much like a robotic hand, now rusted and contorted with age, and Harrier shuddered a little as he remembered where the hand had come from. Sometimes Tempest's viciousness still appalled something deep inside him...his sense of social graces, he supposed. But that hand had been the first step in a very long road from the dregs of the universe to the ranks of the Decepticon army...

Tempest got up from the recharge bay, which she'd been sitting in although she hadn't been recharging. "What's up?"

"Nothing...the others are out exploring." He tried to relax, looking around the room. "So this is the big time."

"Yeah." Tempest's voice was unusually quiet as she approached him. "What say we...celebrate."

The jump-jet's face took on a pained expression. "Please...I've had enough of celebration after last night. I'm never going to put down that much energon lager again so long as I live..."

Tempest stopped a few inches away and looked him in the optics with an expression half warm, half predatory. "That's not the kind of celebration I had in mind..."

Harrier's jaw dropped, but that was the kind of order he didn't mind obeying...

#

"FALL BACK!" Rodimus Prime yelled to the Autobot troops. Inside, his failure rankled him...he was certain Optimus Prime could have won this fight...but the battle was going badly for the Autobots, and pressing the offensive today would only result in farther losses.

At Rodimus' side, Zodiac heard the order and breathed a sigh of relief. Much as he knew the Autobots had to win this war someday, he was happy that it wouldn't be today. He hoped that when they finally did take the planet, that he would be busy in his med lab, far away from the actual fighting. Hurting others was not his style, even if they were Decepticons, and the idea of leaving injured friends behind in battle was repugnant regardless of the fact that doing so would mean his own death.

"Field commanders, acknowledge!" Rodimus ordered.

"Kup of ground squad, roger."

"Scattershot of Technobots, roger."

"Sunflare of Sky Patrol, roger."

Zodiac's fuel went cold. Rodimus had noted the same discrepancy. Sunflare was second-in-command of Sky Patrol, not its leader. "Where's Stormrave?" Rodimus asked.

"Down, location unknown."

If the fluid in Zodiac's lines had been cold before, it was now pure ice. "What're we going to do?" he whispered to Rodimus.

"Retreat as ordered."

"But what about..."

"Zodiac, I hate it as much as you do, but the battle's not going to stop for one Autobot. If she was only damaged, she'll make it back to base."

"And if she wasn't?"

"What're you going to do, ask the Decepticons to help you look for her? COME ON!" Firing a few last shots over an outcropping of rock, Rodimus Prime transformed. "AUTOBOTS, RETREAT!"

Across the battlefield, the same thing occurred over and over...Autobots firing off a final salvo, then transforming and pulling out while Sky Patrol aircraft soared overhead, providing air cover and protecting the Autobot retreat. Zodiac transformed with the rest of them, but Decepticons or no Decepticons, he was going to do what he could to help Stormrave. He kept to the back of the withdrawing pack of automobiles. When most of the others had passed him, Zodiac set a course that took him farther and farther away from the main group. If Stormy had fallen in the path of the Autobot retreat, the others would find her...if not, maybe he would. He chose a course that sent him near two burned-out hulks of aircraft, both of whom had been Decepticons. An air battle had obviously taken place in the skies above, and maybe Stormy would be here...

He figured the worst thing he could find would be Stormrave's dead body.

He was wrong.

Something had plowed a crater in the earth very near to where he was driving...something metallic. As he approached, he could see that it was definitely a Transformer. It had reverted to robot mode after impact, and the legs were visible above the rill of piled-up earth. Red..grey trim...

Zodiac's engine choked for a second as he zipped over, transformed, and looked down on the fallen jet.

She was alive...somehow, she was still ALIVE...but a Decepticon laser had cut through the back of her helmet. Some of her neural wiring hung out the wound, and where the wires had been severed, little sparks sizzled. Her limbs jerked spasmodically. It was one of the worst wounds he'd ever seen...by all rights, she should be dead...

...but instead she turned her head towards him. His hands shaking, he pushed up the visor until he could see her optics, sad, scared and filled with pain, looking back at him.

He couldn't fix her. He had no idea where to begin. The odds were against her even in Cybertron's most advanced workshop, whereas her, all he had was a field kit. Field repairs wouldn't even begin to repair her...he doubted they'd even do much to stabilize her, but that didn't stop him trying. He realized, with a wrenching in his fuel system, that his work on her was probably more of a comfort to him than to Stormrave herself.

"Get out of here," she rasped. "The Decepticons are coming..."

He knew. He could hear their engines in the distance. "I doesn't care," Zodiac replied flatly. He considered trying to carry her to the Autobot lines.

~I doesn't think I'se strong enough. And I'se low on fuel.~

~I don't care!~ another voice within him raged. ~I'll MAKE myself do it!~

~She'll never survive...even if you can carry her there, she won't survive the trip...~

~and if she does, what does this place have to offer her but a crude repair bay and a handful of field medics who probably know less than you do?~

She needed a skilled neurosurgeon and the Autobots didn't have one anywhere near this planet.

"Get out of here or they'll kill you!"

"They'll kill you if I leave you!" he protested.

She smiled wanly. "I'm dying, Zodiac. You and I both know it."

"I'm not leaving..."

"I'd like you...to stay...but if you do, you'll die. Let me rest...knowing you're safe."

"I'll take you with me." He fought to keep control of his emotion and failed to stifle the sobs.

"No...too far...and I'll slow...you down. They'll catch us...kill us both." She grasped his leg. "You go...while you can."

And then a new thought crossed his mind. Stormrave was a Seeker Model 2-B...a Decepticon prototype. Aside from her personal loyalties, the only thing that made her an Autobot was...

Suddenly businesslike again, he reached into his field kit, selected a small laser scalpel, and positioned it above the Autobot logo on her right wing. "Hold still, Stormy. This might hurt a little."

"What are you doing? It's my head...not my wings..."

He gritted his teeth...the idea of hurting her made his own system ache in sympathy...and sliced the top layer of metal away, removing the red sigil.

"If I leaves ye...the Decepticons will find ye. And if they don't see these..." he knelt down on her other side and sliced the left emblem away "...they'll think ye's a Seeker, and fix ye. The Decepticons got a med lab here. It's their big repair base. All ye gots to do is hold on long enough for them to find ye."

"Yeah. Yeah. I'll do it."

He looked down at her. She was as stable as he could make her, and her Autobot logos were gone...

...so why did the idea of leaving her make his fuel tank bubble and his fuel lines twist into knots? He felt rooted to the ground beside her.

"Get out of here," she rasped, "before they get here..." The engine sound was growing ever louder.

"I can't," he whispered, looking down into her face. "Stormy...I...I can't..."

And, of course, there was that other thing he couldn't say...

~I loves ye, Stormrave.~

Her optics narrowed. "I can't see them kill you...can't take it...you have to leave. Now! I'll..." She smirked. "I'll catch you when I'm better, Guppybot, and then you'll be sorry..."

He grinned weakly and forced himself to his feet. "See ya, Stormrave."

"Bye Zodiac."

And then he did the hardest thing he'd ever done...transform into his sedan form, and drive away. He looked back as long as he could, until the red form disappeared behind the horizon...

...and prayed he'd done the right thing.

#


	4. Chapter 4

**The Last Kilairian**

**Chapter the Fourth**

"I hate this job," Chopper muttered as he stamped over the battlefield, with the rest of Phoenix Corps right behind him.

"Never happy, are you?" Beretta retorted. "Just HAD to ask Cyclonus if there was anything for us to do, didn't you? This is all your fault, so you might as well shut up and do it!"

Chopper continued as if he hadn't even heard her. "Looking for survivors...what a waste of time! All the prisoners are back at base and I'm not there to interrogate them!" He glared at Tempest. "Some greatness this is!"

"You can't expect to be head interrogator this quickly," Harrier soothed, "and besides, think of it this way...if you find any surviving Autobots, you get to slice and dice."

"Hey, YEAH!" The little helicopter chuckled and began scanning the battlefield with a grin both enthusiastic and sadistic. "Heeere Autobots! Come out, come out wherever you are!"

"Nice call," Tempest congratulated her second-in-command, nodding towards Chopper. She glanced around the battlefield and tried to stop her inner feelings from showing on her face. "I must admit, though, for once I agree with our chop-happy maniac. I don't care for this tasking either."

"You told me once, patience is the key," Harrier replied. "Wait until we prove ourselves in battle. After that, no more joe-jobs for us."

But that wasn't what was bothering Tempest. The heat of the battle was one thing...she gloried in it...but this business of picking through the remains was something else.

The ravaged battlefield reminded her far too much of Kilair.

A sharp whistle split the air. "I think I've got something!" Beretta cried from a short distance away.

"Autobot?" Chopper said eagerly, drawing his laser sword.

Beretta tilted her head. "Don't know. No insignia." She gave out a low whistle. "It looks like a Seeker to me though."

"Be on guard." Tempest drew her weapon and advanced cautiously, straining her optics to get a look at the injured robot at Beretta's feet.

And when she did, her laser gun fell from her hand.

"Boss?" Harrier asked.

Tempest darted forward and fell on her knees beside the fallen red jet. A quick check showed a faint but stable sign of life.

"Deuce, get over here on the double! Stabilize and prepare to transport! All care and haste!" Tempest barked. Deuce immediately got to work, prying open the chest cavity and revealing the robot's serial number...1037605D2907 SKR 2-B. MADE ON KILAIR.

The yellow leader rose to her feet and took a step back, staring at the red jet's unconscious body. Her head was tilted backwards, staring sightlessly at the stars. A visor...Tempest did not remember that visor...hung limply over the crown of her head.

"Tempest?" Harrier ventured.

"She is one of us," the yellow Seeker said quietly.

"You mean I can't chop her up?" Chopper whined to Beretta. "She hasn't got Decepticon logos..."

Tempest stepped forward and seized the little robot's shoulder. "She is one of us. You will not harm her."

"What?" Chopper's gaze swung towards his prospective victim. "Hey...yeah! She was from Kilair! From the old days! Yeah, I remember her now."

Harrier blinked questioningly.

"Her name is Stormrave," Tempest said softly. "She's my best friend."

"Zodiac!" Cavalier cried as she saw the battered navy-and-maroon sedan appear over the horizon. Careless of any Decepticons who might be following the crippled medic, Cavalier transformed into auto mode and raced towards her friend. Zodiac had a flat tire and was rolling on his rim, but there were no enemies pursuing him.

"Zodiac!" Cavalier called again as she approached him. "Dammit, bro, you look like slag!"

Zodiac transformed and grabbed at Cavalier's arm. "Comm link...is your comm link working?"

"Yeah." Cavalier transformed as well and stared at the medic. "Some way to greet a friend."

"We need a med team at these coordiantes, pronto."

The tone in his voice told the white female not to argue with him. She relayed the coordinates to First Aid and received assurance that the search-and-rescue team were heading out.

"Now are you satisfied?" Cavalier demanded. "You know, you ought to get to the medic's yourself."

"My boat mode still works," Zodiac muttered.

"Oh, yeah, so you're going to stay in boat form 24-7. Stormer's gonna laugh her head off at you."

Zodiac blinked and shook his head, biting down on his lower jaw as if to keep from whimpering. Sensing something was wrong, Cavalier got down on her knee beside him, feeling a chill run through her. "What is it?"

"Stormy's still out there," the navy triplechanger whispered. "I couldn't carry her back to base..."

"Primus," Cavalier breathed. "Was it bad?"

Zodiac nodded, and keeled over against her side, burying his face in her shoulder, sobbing, as her fuel lines turned to ice.

Stormrave awoke to the smell of sterilization and a blinding nimbus of light. She lay on her back on a hard and cold metal surface. Her head throbbed. Repair bay, no doubt, but she couldn't recognize it by scent. She tried to see through the painfully bright glare.

"Stormrave?"

"Zodiac?" she mumbled, blinking, shaking her head this way and that. Her optics picked out a vague silhouette of someone standing over her.

"Raver, relax. You're safe here." A female voice...not Cavalier...

"Cav?" she asked anyway.

"Raver. Take it easy, and think. What do you remember?"

Her memory was a hideous blank. Panic made her dive deep in her mind for information. It hurt, but it brought back recollections, which was a comfort-although the memories themselves were not.

"I remember...Kilair."

"Yes. Do you remember me?"

Stormrave raised herself on one shoulder and squinted at the figure that came into view. A flying robot that looked very much like Stormrave herself, save for the darker grey coloured face and the bright yellow helmet with blue trim...

"Tempest?"

"Yeah." A gentle smile. "Hey, Raver. It's been a long time."

"Kilair...they destroyed Kilair...was that a nightmare? Did that really happen...when the jets came from the sky and slaughtered the whole city?" She pressed a hand to her forehead, felt the shape of a visor pushed back from her optics.

"Yes." Tempest's optics darkened.

Stormrave moaned; bolts of pain darted through her brain. She was still badly dazed. "How'd we get away?"

"I hid in the rubble until it was over. I don't know about you. I looked everywhere for you, but I couldn't find you."

"Then how did I get here?"

"Our cleanup party found you after a battle with the Autobots."

"Autobots..." The name was vaguely familiar. "What happened to me?"

"I don't know, Raver." Tempest looked down at her with concern. "I haven't seen you since the destruction of Kilair. That was a long, long time ago."

"I don't...remember..."

"Mindsurge said that was normal. You'd been hit by a laser blast. You had significant neural damage. Mindsurge fixed you. He says you'll be able to function normally, but there might be memory loss-whether it's permanent or not, he can't say-and also, you're going to be shaky for a while until your brain becomes accustomed to sending information down those recently repaired pathways."

Nodding her understanding, Stormrave stumbled to her feet and looked in the mirror.

Her frame was fully repaired. There had also been some changes made. Each arm now bore a shiny new laser cannon that had a power source on her shoulder, ran down the side of her arm, and terminated in a muzzle that protruded past the tips of her fingers. Her previous glossy red was now red metallic, and each wing bore a bold purple logo. The placement of the logo was familiar, but suddenly her attention snapped back to those marks on her wings. Purple...spiky...all triangles and sharp corners. Decepticon logos.

Why was there something strange about that?

"Decepticons?" Stormrave asked. "We're Decepticons?"

"Yeah." The yellow Seeker grinned.

"Tempest, I don't remember this. I don't remember us being Decepticons."

"We weren't. Kilair was a neutral planet, settled by pacifists and cowards. Weaklings."

"Weak." Stormrave nodded. "We couldn't defend ourselves, when the raiders attacked."

"And so the weak ones died...but we survived, Raver. We survived, because we were strong." She looked over at her old friend. "Primus, it's good to have you back."

Stormrave nodded. Curious, she opened her breastplate and peered inside. The red military wiring was familiar, as was the serial number: 1037605D2907 SKR-2B "I'm a Seeker," she repeated, looking in the mirror. "A Decepticon Seeker."

"I got Lili Marlene to fix you up," Tempest replied.. "Lili may be a pathetic excuse for a Decepticon but I must admit, she knows how to do her job." As Stormrave closed up her chest plate, Tempest leaned over and tapped Stormrave's visor. "Where in the galaxy did you pick this thing up? Kind of tacky, don't you think?"

Stormrave pushed the visor back on her head and studied her face in the mirror. She felt oddly exposed, though she could not say why, and slammed the visor back down over her eyes.

"I hate dirt in my optics," she grumbled by way of excuse.

Tempest shrugged. "Whatever. Now if you're feeling up to it, come on out and meet the rest of the squadron."

"The search and rescue patrol is back," Cavalier said softly.

Zodiac's optics asked the unspoken question...did they have Stormrave with them?

"It looks like they came back alone." Which made no sense...the Autobots were not in the habit of abandoning the bodies of their dead.

Cavalier transformed and screamed down the roads of the base until she met Kismet, who had been part of the patrol. "Did you find her?" Cavalier asked gently.

The golden female shook her head. "Negative. There was nothing at the coordinates Zodiac gave us. We searched the surrounding area...no sign of Stormrave."

"So she's..."

"At this point, missing in action." Kismet bowed her head. "I hope I'm wrong, Cav, but it doesn't look good."

Stormrave's head ached as she walked down the hall beside Tempest, listening to her sister expand on her theories of Decepticon superiority. According to Tempest, the Autobots were flawed in the circuits, and the Decepticons were doing the universe a favour by eradicating them. It made sense...of a sort...but Stormrave's foggy recollection still remembered that many of her friends on Kilair had been Autobots. The difference was lost on Tempest. She seemed harder, colder. She was also far more confident. It was an odd reversal of the old days to have Tempest blazing the lead while Stormrave, uncertain, hung back. They passed through the doors of a large lounge where three other Decepticons were relaxing.

"I'd like you to meet the rest of my command," Tempest said proudly. "Welcome to Phoenix Corps." The mismatched crew of Decepticons rose to their feet as the two Seekers entered. "My squadron," Tempest began, "I am pleased to introduce to you my best friend, Stormrave of Kilair. Stormrave, meet Harrier, my master tracker and second-in-command."

"How do you do." Harrier looked at Stormrave suspiciously. The red female quickly guessed that Harrier was jealous of her friendship with Tempest and probably felt that his position as second-in-command was threatened.

"Deuce, our communications expert, field medic, and general jack-of-all-trades."

The big guy waved shyly. Stormrave wondered if he was the tall, strong and stupid type or if there was more going on behind those ruby eyes.

"Beretta, master spy and saboteur."

The birdlike female whistled. Stormrave frowned, casting a critical eye on the red sportscar. She wore a Decepticon logo on her chest, but something about her didn't seem quite right...

"Is she really a Decepticon?" Stormrave asked.

Tempest paused. "She's a Rejected."

"Half Autobot, half Decepticon," Stormrave mused. Tempest's racial theories were still fresh in her mind. She drew Tempest aside and whispered, "Are you sure a robot contaminated by Autobot circuitry is capable of upholding her part in the coming Decepticon victory?"

"We need her," Tempest retorted. "With her half-Autobot wiring, she can slip through Autobot security shields and get us the information we need." She grumbled under her breath. "For the greater good of the cause, we sometimes have to put up with halfbreeds. Beretta is loyal to our cause, a more than competant soldier, and an old friend. This discussion is closed."

Stormrave nodded acquiesence, though she seemed disturbed by something.

"And this," Tempest said, turning towards the last member of her motley squadron, "is Chopper."

"My name is Blade," the light helicopter said peevishly.

Stormrave looked at Tempest with a questioning expression.

Tempest shrugged. "That's what he likes to call himself. The rest of us just call him Chopper."

"I know you," Stormrave said slowly. "Back on Kilair. You were that kid who was always getting into trouble."

Chopper grinned. "That's me. 'Course, I've come a long way from being just "that kid." My laser blades are the terror of the galaxy." He drew a long katana-like weapon, pressed a button on the hilt, and laughed wildly as energy crackled along the blade. "This sucker'll chop right through living metal and sauter the cut shut after it. It'll warp all the surrounding metal and kill the circuitry. Especially if you do it slow. There's a lot of Autobots never were able to fix what I did to 'em..."

Stormrave looked a little ill. "You seriously let him do that?" she whispered to Tempest.

Tempest shrugged. "Not my favourite methods, but Chopper does have his place, and I occasionally find use for his particular skills."

"That's sick."

Tempest frowned. "This is war, Raver. It isn't like the old days on Kilair. The real world is all about killing...or being killed. It's better to be one of the killers."

Stormer thought back to the old days on Kilair...or tried to. Her memories were desperately foggy. There were the happy ones...her and Tempest as young robots, giggling and playing tricks on their elders, gliding on the Razorback mountain range, playing with the other children...

...the children who'd died in the destruction of the city. Destroyed...by space cruisers...especially that big black brute who was their leader.

She struggled to remember and finally a recollection swam to the surface. Not just any space cruisers.

Decepticon space cruisers.

So why was Kilairian Squadron wearing the Decepticon logo?

Or were her memories wrong?

Cavalier's rest that night was not an easy one.

She was a child again, screaming down the canyons of the Ridge, and hot on her tail was the red sports car and the Decepticon jump jet. She swerved under a dark overhang; then the big army truck melted out of the shadows and sideswiped her. Terrified, she fled as fast as she could, but the three Decepticons were always right behind her...and then the net descended from the sky, and she could hear the Decepticon helicopter's laughter.

The other three pinned her. Laughing cruelly, the garishly painted helicopter stood at her feet and drew his long laser sword. Cavalier heard footsteps behind her head-the Decepticons' leader-and saw the shadow of a Seeker projected onto the rock wall behind the helicopter.

"I'm gonna chop you up," Chopper sneered.

Struggling, Cavalier looked up at her captors...only to realize, with a shock, that her left shoulder was pinned not by the birdlike Beretta, but by a leering Artemis. She turned her head to the right; Deuce had been replaced by Stormrave's Decepticon friend, the black Quintesson hunter, Ritterkreuz. Somehow, Harrier was now Starscream, incarnated again in a body just like his old one.

"Give me the sword," the Decepticons' leader commanded in a hideously familiar voice. Chopper whined his frustration, but handed the hilt to his leader.

"Turn her."

Artemis and Ritterkreuz picked her up, effortlessly, and flung her around. As her senses stablized, she came to realize that the two traitors were holding her completely immobile...

...and she could now see the Decepticons' leader...

...Stormrave, holding Chopper's laser sword...

...and laughing as she swung the blade straight towards Cavalier's throat...

"Cav. Wake up, Cav."

Cavalier blinked, lurching upright. "Jazz! What's going on?"

"It looked like you were having a mondo nightmare."

"Yeah. Yeah, I was." She paused for a moment. "Have they found Stormer yet?"

"No. Nothing."

Nightmare. A nightmare indeed. "I don't wanna lose another friend," Cavalier whispered.

CYBERTRON-ONE WEEK LATER

"Tonight we gather in the memory of a noble robot-our Sky Patrol commander, Stormrave." Rodimus Prime was unusually subdued as he spoke the words. "Stormrave was a brilliant tactician, a devoted historian, and a worthy leader. She will be sorely missed." He paused. "In Stormrave's absence, the mantle of command now passes to Sunflare."

Sunflare bowed his head as he placed a wreath at the bottom of the monument on behalf of Sky Patrol. "On behalf of all of Sky Patrol, we pay tribute to a noble leader. May I be able to follow in her flightpath."

Cavalier noticed Longshock standing alone near the wall. Longshock had made no secret of the fact that he disliked having Stormrave as his superior, but while he was not taking part in the tribute flight like his fellow Sky Patrol members, he was conducting himself politely. He even raised his arm in salute when Sunflare bowed to the memorial.

Then the rumble of jets filled the air. Those assembled looked up to see five Autobot aircraft flying in a V-formation overhead. Silverbolt was in the lead, followed by Skydive and Powerglide, trailed by Kismet and Firestreak. When the five jets were directly above the assembly, Skydive tilted his wings and dropped from the formation, peeling off in another direction as the others continued on their course.

"The Missing Man formation," Cavalier breathed. "Stormer would have appreciated that."

"I hate this war," Arcee mumbled miserably. "I hate losing friends this way."

"I know," Cavalier replied. Her grief threatened to overwhelm her and she found herself forced to resort to her old coping mechanism-anger. "Those Decepticreeps are going to pay for what they did to my best friend."

"Hey," Springer said, "where's Zodiac?"

Cavalier looked around, momentarily distracted. Almost everyone else on base was present at the memorial. "Could he be on guard duty?"

"When is Zodiac EVER on guard duty?"

"Good point." She thought, hard. "Maybe a medical emergency?"

"There hasn't been any battles around here." Arcee shook her head. "Maybe we ought to go find him."

Their first stop was the medical lab, and as they approached, they could hear the soft clatter of instruments inside. "Zodiac?" Cavalier said gently.

"Come in," the medic's voice replied. The med lab was empty of any life save Zodiac himself, who was polishing his tools furiously. The whole place was sparklingly clean, even for a med lab.

"Zodiac, we missed you at Stormrave's memorial. What happened?"

He muttered something they couldn't hear.

"What?"

"I said, Stormrave's not dead."

Cavalier blinked. "Zodiac, I understand how you feel. We all feel like sludge. But it's been two months now, and there's been no sign of her..."

"She's not dead! Did they find the body? Huh?"

"No," Springer agreed, "but Rodimus had contact from Decepticon command. They traded lists of casualties and prisoners. Stormrave's name wasn't on any of those lists."

"So maybe she's still out there!"

"With a head wound like the one you mentioned in your report?" Cavalier protested. "Zodiac, I want her alive as much as you do, but if she really did have an injury as bad as you said she did, she wouldn't have survived more than a few hours without medical treatment."

"There's nothing to say she didn't get it."

"There's nothing to say she did! Where the hell would she go, on a planet full of Decepticons? There weren't any med labs for light years around..."

"What about the Decepticon lab?"

"Why in the Pit would the Decepticons fix her? They had their own casualties!"

"Zodiac," Arcee said gently, "you've got to understand that the Decepticons don't think like you do. They aren't in the habit of repairing injured enemies."

"Because..."

And then Zodiac realized that he couldn't give the answer that was in his head...

~...because she's a Decepticon too.~

"I...look, just never mind."

"Zodiac, listen to me," Cavalier said. "We're worried about you. I know you feel guilty for what happened to Stormrave. I know you feel like you're responsible for her. But it wasn't your fault. War does that. Things just...happen...and there's nothing we can do."

"I should never have left her," he said miserably.

"Zodiac, you carried her as far as you possibly could," Arcee said.

"No. No, I didn't."

Cavalier's optics widened. "What do you mean?"

"Where she fell...with the head wound...I didn't pick her up to bring her back. I didn't even try. She wouldn't have survived the trip anyway...and so...I just left her there." He paused, trying to judge her reaction. "I thought...I thought the Decepticons would find her and repair her. I couldn't. I did what I could to stabilize her, and when I couldn't do any more, I...I just left her there."

"Zodiac," Cavalier said gently, "you did what you thought was best..."

"I never should have left her!"

"There was nothing else you could have done."

"I should have tried. Dammit...I should at least have tried...instead of abandoning her there to the Decepticons. I should have stayed with her..."

"Zodiac, if you'd have stayed, they'd have killed you."

"I DON'T CARE!" he screamed. "I can't believe I ran out on her...I can't believe I...let...her...fall..." He collapsed, sobbing, on Cavalier's shoulder.


	5. Chapter 5

**The Last Kilairian**

**Chapter the Fifth**

Out in the interstellar darkness, Sunflare couldn't believe the weight of the command that had now fallen on his shoulders. How had Stormrave done it? It had been work enough being the second-in-command of Sky Patrol...being its leader was easily three times as hard. A duty this intense, belonging to one even younger than Rodimus... Sunflare didn't envy the Prime Autobot his command. Leading a division was more than enough for him.

Sunflare sent out a short detection pulse. Kismet was at his right wingtip, Longshock at his left. Fortunately, the surly green robot was proving more cooperative to Sunflare than he ever was to Stormrave...

The same could not be said of Firestreak. Ever since Skybolt was killed over Cybertron, Firestreak had become crazed with desire for vengeance. Even now, he was straying out of position, and Sunflare knew that the red and yellow male designate had his sensors tuned to the maximum, searching for Sweeps on whom to vent his rage.

"Firestreak, fall in," Sunflare ordered. "You're wavering."

Firestreak sluggishly obeyed and was no sooner back in pattern than he began straying again...this time too close to Kismet, who was forced to weave and dodge lest the red jet fly into her jetwash and lose his engines. Stormrave had always kept Firestreak under control, but Sunflare had no idea how she'd done it. He was tempted to give Firestreak a few days' leave, but Sky Patrol was already chronically short of members...

First Skybolt. Now Stormrave. Who next?

Sunflare sighed. He had to go looking for new jets. That kid, Zenith, showed promise...

~But Zenith's still an adolescent!~ an inner voice raged.

~Doesn't matter,~ his weary command-voice replied. ~We all grow up fast in this war.~

#

CYBERTRON

"I'm telling you, Tempest, when I joined up to be a soldier, construction duty was NOT what I had in mind," Chopper snarled.

"Shut up and build," the yellow Seeker retorted. "Look around you. Ever since the Autobots drove us out of Meridian-D, the entire Decepticon army has had to knuckle down and work. Right now, building this staging base near Iacon is just as valuable to the war effort as a battle."

"It's not nearly as much fun, though."

"More supplies arriving!" Deuce announced, looking up from the communications antenna computer. "Brigand and his boys have gotten themselves converted into transports, Chopper, and Brigand's a general. It happens to the best of us."

Chopper grumbled and hoisted a beam.

Overhead, the dark shape of Brigand's space-cruiser mode passed by, casting a shadow on the half-finished staging base. Stormrave looked up from her work on a gun mount and watched him pass. She shoved up her visor for a closer look, narrowing her optics.

Was her mind playing tricks on her again, or was that shadow familiar?

She crossed over to Tempest. "Who is that?" she asked, gesturing towards the black spaceship.

"Brigand," Tempest replied. "My boss-our unit commander."

"Do I...know him?"

Tempest sighed. "It was a very long time ago, Stormrave. Don't worry about it."

And that was all Stormrave could get out of her sister-but the red Seeker wasn't about to just forget it. There was something important there...she knew it. Carefully, she studied the black spaceship, determined to find out what Tempest wasn't telling her.

#

CYBERTRON-TWO WEEKS LATER

Zenith, a little purple jet with yellow trim, performed admirably well for a novice in her first week with Sky Patrol. She was enthusiastic, friendly, and eager to please. Kismet simply shook her head sadly at the new robot's naivite. Longshock, on the other hand, was surly no matter what Zenith did to try to please him. The fact that the kid had Rejected circuitry didn't help, but Sunflare suspected that the problem went deeper than that...that Longshock blamed Zenith for not being Skybolt. Irrational, perhaps, but Sunflare admitted to himself that he couldn't look at his new charge without wishing she were Stormrave. However, he vowed not to hold it against her. Meanwhile, Firestreak saw in Zenith a protege in his mad quest against the Sweeps, and Sunflare had his hands full trying to keep Firestreak from poisoning her mind with suicidal and anarchical ideas.

Now, as Sky Patrol made its sweep through the embattled skies of Meridian-D, the communications link crackled to life. "What's that?" Zenith's voice asked. "One o' clock, low."

Sunflare focused his sensors on the area. The kid was right-there was something there-and it looked like... "Baptism by fire," he muttered. "Zenith, you stay close to Kismet, you got it? Stay right on her wingtip no matter what! If worst comes to worst, you get back to Cybertron as fast as you can, and DON'T try to help us, you got that? You're not fully trained and you'd be hurting us more than helping. You copy?"

"Copy," Zenith replied nervously.

It was a flight of Decepticons. His radar picked up the rough outlines of several Sweeps and a jet-model Decepticon at the head. As the Decepticons came into visual range, Sunflare gasped. That outline...in the lead...

Stormrave?

No. The leader was a sleek yellow Seeker with bold blue trim, someone Sunflare had never seen before, at the head of six Sweeps.

Sunflare's gaze was drawn back to the leader and he noticed, with a shock, that it hadn't just been blind desire on his part that had caused him to mistake the outline for Stormrave. The yellow Seeker bore an uncanny resemblance to the Sky Patrol commander...

...but then there was no time for further thought, as the Decepticons swept down upon them.

Firestreak started laughing maniacally over the comm link, blasting three Sweeps into oblivion.

"Keep the channel clear!" Sunflare barked, dodging a blast from a Sweep's cannon.

Kismet wasn't doing too much in the way of fighting. She had her hands full keeping an eye on Zenith. The kid was admirably cool, lining up on unsuspecting Decepticons...unfortunately, most of her shots were going wide.

Sunflare shot down a Sweep himself and was diving on the sole survivor when he heard a call for aid. "This is Longshock...need help! The leader's hit me, critical damage, must return to base...assist...assist..." Sunflare looked around. Longshock was smoking, wallowing in the night-black outer space sky, and the yellow Seeker was bearing down on him, ready for the kill. Sunflare loosed a few shots. They all went wide, but they served their purpose in driving the Seeker out of her death-dive and getting her attention away from Longshock.

"Five Sweeps down, one to go," Kismet called as Sunflare engaged the leader. "The kid nailed one."

"Great! Come here and help me mop up this yellow..." Sunflare began, when suddenly a rain of lasers fell around them.

"AMBUSH!" Firestreak yelled.

Sunflare risked a quick glance away from the yellow Seeker to see another Seeker, red this time, at the head of ten Sweeps, emerging from the shadow of a nearby asteroid.

"RETREAT!" Sunflare called back, but it wasn't as easy as that. The yellow Seeker, smug in her side's superior numbers, had no intention of letting him go.

Sunflare saw that Kismet and Zenith were clear, heading for Cybertron, and Longshock was long gone...Primus help him make it back to base. He wasn't sure about Firestreak, and didn't have time to look. Three Sweeps were converging on him from the right, and the yellow Seeker was laying fire up his afterburners.

For a Sky Patrol Commander, he felt completely helpless and lost. He tried jinking a little, but while it ruined the Decepticons' aims, his zigging and zagging slowed him down and gave more Sweeps the opportunity to converge on him.

~Stormrave, what do I do?~

A silent, desperate plea...and no one was more surprised than he was when it was answered.

"Sunflare! FLAPS!"

Instantly, Sunflare dropped his flaps, rearing vertical in the sky. His speed slackened dramatically...and the Deceptions flew right past him. The yellow Seeker, wise to the ploy, dived clear, but the confused Sweeps continued in straight lines, bewildered...providing perfect targets for his guns. He thought he got two of them, but he wasn't sure and didn't dare take the time to find out. He took advantage of the Sweeps' shock to take off vertically and light his burners, screaming back to Cybertron as fast as he could.

#

What in Primus' name had she done?

The ambush had worked beautifully...of course it had, she had planned it. Tempest was a patrol sergeant...expert at hand-to-hand fighting and command under fire...but she was not a strategist. Strategy was Raver's specialty.

So why had she ruined her own maneuver by warning the Autobot commander? They could have taken him out, and probably the red and yellow Autobot as well, if she had not told the leader how to strike back at the Sweeps and escape. Instead, without thinking she'd dialed in an unknown frequency and spoken two words, and the Autobot leader had both heard and obeyed.

What were those words? A title? A name? She could not remember now what she had said. Her head throbbed. How had she known their frequency? And most importantly of all...why had she done it?

Honour was a possible excuse, as was the notion of saving her targets to toy with later, but both these reasons were incompatible with the military logic she prided herself on-and neither reason did anything to explain the completely irrational emotion she had felt during the battle. Even now, the residue of sentiment clung to her spark like grime in her fuel lines.

What had caused her, in the heat of battle, to feel such protectiveness towards the Autobot patrol?

#

Sunflare, too, could make no sense of the encounter. Perceptor's examination had declared him free of any glitches in his core processor, but the memories remained.

"Her voice," he said to Kup. "In the middle of the battle, I heard Stormrave's voice. "Drop your flaps!" she said, and I did, and it saved my life."

Kup shook his head. "You couldn't have heard her, lad. She's one with the Matrix, now."

"I don't know," Sunflare muttered miserably. "I don't know what I heard, or thought I heard, there in that battle."

"Combat stress," Kup said wisely.

"If you want to know what I think," Perceptor said, "I think that voice was your command skill coming through. Your mental processes framed your thoughts as Stormrave's voice, because she is the image you have of a Sky Patrol Commander. That voice is your thoughts projected into your conception of an ideal leader-Stormrave." He laid a hand on the young robot's shoulder. "But the truth is, it was you. Your abilities. Your thoughts."

But in the med lab next door, a navy-and-maroon triplechanger paused in his work and wondered.

Unable to keep his mind on the damaged muffler system before him, Zodiac transformed into his sedan mode and cruised out of the base. Lost in thought, he sped out of Iacon City and into the surrounding wasteland. He barely recognized the Ridge as he made his way through the weaving canyons.

~Stormy...are you alive? Why haven't you come back to us? Stormy!~

~I never told her...~

His front tire hit a pothole, hard, threatening to send him careening into a nearby building. He recovered his equilibrium just in time, though his wheels were up on the sidewalk and...

Sidewalk? He'd been driving along the Ridge...where was he?

This part of town was dark and dingy, badly lit, and littered with garbage. Graffitti scrawls decorated the buildings.

AUTOBOTS SUCK SLAG

SEEKERS RULE & SWEEPS DROOL

RUMBLE WAS HERE

"Decepticon territory," Zodiac breathed. "I've crossed the Ridge and gone into Polyhex." Polyhex-the only city on Cybertron still under partial Decepticon control. How in the Pit had he gotten past its mighty defences?

He looked around. There was the defence wall...far away in the distance. This was a suburb of sorts, on the outside of the main fortifications. The patrol in this area had probably been sleeping on the job and missed his approach.

Further up the street, a group of Decepticons were stumbling out of a building with a flickering sign-BRAINSTORM'S. They were loud, and they fired their lasers off into the air. ~Cruising for a fight,~ Zodiac thought, backing up into a shadowy alley so that the Decepticons wouldn't spot him. His best chance was to get out of Polyhex, fast, before one of the Decepticon patrols spotted him. The triplechanger lay low until the Decepticons were out of hearing distance; then he pealed out of the alleyway and stepped on the gas, screaming for the Ridge.

His nerves were tight and his chassis trembled, but as he put more distance between himself and the Polyhex defences, he started to relax. The buildings were gone, and there were the rocky outcroppings of the Ridge. He was going to make it...

...and then the red Seeker screamed down from the sky and transformed directly in front of him. Slamming on his brakes and jerking his wheel to the right, Zodiac spun out and tumbled into a heap. He transformed, reaching for that gun he could hardly use, looking up at the Decepticon who'd intercepted him.

Good Primus.

"Stormer?" Zodiac whispered.

"Greetings, Autobot," the red Seeker said, smirking cruelly. The medic could see two long silver laser cannons newly mounted on each of her arms. As she bent towards him, light flashed off her wings that now bore menacing purple Decepticon logos.

"Stormer, don't you remember me?" Zodiac asked, his voice warm but still tinged with fear.

She paused, frowning. "You. You're the medic."

"That's right. I fixed you."

She snorted. "Foolish Autobot. One of these days I will repay you with death."

He noticed, however, that she wasn't aiming her guns at him. "No. No, ye won't. Ye belongs with us." He stretched out his hand to her. "Come home with me, Stormrave."

"I am home. I am Stormrave, third-in-command of Phoenix Corps."

~Phoenix Corps?~ Zodiac thought. ~What was that?~ "No," he said, "ye's the commander of Autobot Sky Patrol. They need ye, Stormrave. Come home."

"Sky...Patrol?" She tilted her head, considering. Images flashed through her brain...the dogfight with the Autobots...her sudden warning to the yellow Autobot jet over the communications channel. That sense she kept getting when she flew in formation with Tempest and Harrier...the sense that she belonged at the head of the flight rather than as the leader's wingman...

She looked at her chest panel. Tempest's voice echoed in her head. "Decepticons are built to conquer. Autobots are built to die!"

"Sky Patrol is Autobots. I am a Decepticon," she said.

"Ye've been allied with the Autobot cause for astrocycles!"

"Autobots are built to die," Stormrave retorted, her voice dull. She raised her right hand, pointing her arm laser at Zodiac. The medic's eyes widened.

~Ye can't just leave her here!~

~And if ye stays, she'll shoot ye, and then where will the either of you be?~

"Stormy, please..."

She fired. He transformed, and the shot went overtop of his roof. Fighting down the urge to cry, Zodiac slammed on the gas, screaming off into the ridge. A few more laser shots went high, and then he was in the canyons.

He'd still be an easy target for a Decepticon jet, but after a few moments, he realized that Stormrave wasn't coming after him. He was both relieved, and disappointed.

Thank Primus she was alive...but what was he going to do now? He couldn't tell the others that Stormy was a Decepticon.

~Wait, and hope she comes to her senses.~

He felt so helpless and small as he cruised back towards Iacon.

#

Trying to force the strangely familiar face of the Autobot medic out of her mind, Stormrave continued on to Brainstorm's to make some inquiries.

"Brigand. I want to know everything you guys know about a black space cruiser 'Con named Brigand."

Afterwards, she returned to the staging base, thinking over the comments she'd heard from Brainstorm's customers on her way back. A pirate. Brigand had been a pirate, just like Tempest. He'd once had a pack of his own, the Raiders, and now the surviving Raiders were a squadron in the Decepticon army. The Raiders had all been of similar design to Brigand, only they were trimmed with green, while he was trimmed with orange...

Pirates...

Brigand's past sounded much like Tempest's, but in her core, Stormrave felt an automatic dislike for Brigand. There was something missing, something her mind just wouldn't put together...

...and it didn't help that her thoughts kept drifting back to the Autobot medic.

Why should she care about an Autobot?

#

Zodiac didn't feel much better the next day, as he and Cavalier cruised over the land surrounding Iacon.

"You don't look too good," the white female said. "What's up?"

"I gets nervous on these patrols," the navy sedan lied, trying to force the image of Stormrave with Decepticon logos from his mind. "Ye knows I'se not a soldier."

"These patrols are mostly for deterrent," Cavalier snorted. "The 'Cons would never come this close to Iacon..."

"Guess again," Zodiac muttered as he noticed two black dots rising over the horizon. "I'm not getting any Autobot signatures from those two...wait...one's a 'Con, but my scanners aren't sure what to make of the other one..."

"Seekers," Cavalier breathed, looking up at the familiar outlines. "Zodiac, they're Seekers, both of 'em...well, let's show them what happens when they come visiting without an invitation!"

"Cavalier, no!" Zodiac cried, but the female was in a trigger-happy mood as usual, and she was already transformed, lifting her rail gun towards the sky. Sighing, Zodiac steeled himself for a fight-Primus, he hated fighting-and hoped that the Seekers had better things to do.

Cavalier fired off a shot, almost hitting the lead airplane's nose cone. It drew up, startled...then, finding its target, let loose two missiles. Cavalier and Zodiac threw themselves down behind the cover of some rocks , dodging the blasts, as the two Seekers landed and transformed. They advanced slowly, looking for the Autobots who had fired on them.

"It's her," Cavalier breathed. "The yellow slag-sucker...and she's got a friend. Well, not for long..."

Zodiac had recognized one of their adversaries as well, but not the yellow one. The red one...with a visor.

Stormy.

The medic yanked his head towards Cavalier, saw her drawing a bead on the Seekers. "I bet I can get 'em both from here..."

~Stormy!~

Zodiac reached over and grabbed the rail gun's barrel, jerking it upward. "Zodiac, what in the Pit are you doing?" Cavalier screamed, trying to pull her gun out of the medic's grip.

"Don't shoot!" Zodiac yelled again as the white Autobot tore her gun free.

Cavalier quickly examined the gun-Zodiac had dented it, but it would still fire-and glared at the navy triplechanger. "What do you think you're doing?" she asked him. "I know you're a pacifist but they'll kill us if they can!"

"You can't shoot her!" the medic replied frantically, a wild light in his eyes and an agonized expression on her face. He took a step forward until he was directly in Cavalier's line of fire.

The white Autobot tried to sidestep Zodiac and draw an aim on the two Seekers, but Zodiac kept himself between her gun and her target. "Get out of the way!" she hissed.

"Please, Cav, don't shoot. Don't shoot them."

"Don't you get it?" Cavalier snapped, her voice rising, and she no longer cared whether the Decepticons heard her or not. "These are the bastards who took my jaw off when I was a little kid. And now, they're going to be sorry... Stand aside!"

Zodiac seized her arm, yanking her gun away. Cavalier shoved him back, hard. Her rage gave her strength and she sent the larger triplechanger stumbling backwards. Looking through the crosshairs, she sighted the nearest of the two Seekers.

Zodiac's cry echoed over the battlefield. "STORMRAVE, LOOK OUT!"

Cavalier pulled the trigger.

The red Seeker turned...saw the white Autobot with the gun...fell back, but not fast enough. The laser blast plowed into her left thigh. She dropped to one knee, clutching the wound.

Only after the blast had left her gun did Cavalier understand what Zodiac had said. "That can't be Stormer..." she whispered, but already she was staring at the disabled Seeker with a sickening feeling rising in her fuel tank. The profile was familiar...and then the visored head swung towards the two Autobots as the red Seeker sighted her attackers.

"What in Primus' name happened to her?" Cavalier breathed.

Stormrave raised both her arms and fired a volley of laser fire towards them.

"Stormy?" Cavalier demanded.

"Get them!" the yellow Seeker commanded, a snarl on her face. She drew a pair of long blue blades from behind her back and charged, guns still firing, as Stormrave hung back.

"Let's get out of here!" the white Autobot ordered, transforming and retreating. Zodiac was right beside her. Looking back, the medic noted with relief that Stormrave's companion wasn't following them.

Cavalier drove close to him and mutttered, "You've got a lot of explaining to do."

#

Once they'd gotten back into Iacon, Cavalier transformed and stood facing the navy and maroon sedan. Reluctantly, Zodiac transformed as well. "Now," Cavalier said, "what the slag happened to Stormer?"

"The Decepticons fixed her," Zodiac whimpered.

"Those bastards. They brainwashed her!" She glared at the medic. "How long have you known, and why in the Pit didn't you tell me?"

"The other Autobots would have called her a traitor," the navy triplechanger said miserably.

"No, they wouldn't. They'd understand that it was those damn Decepticons messing with her head." Cavalier shook her head. "I don't get why you didn't tell me!"

Zodiac looked thoroughly rotten.

Cavalier continued, "We'll worry about it later. Right now we have to get Stormer back from the Decepticreeps."

"You know she might not come willingly," Zodiac muttered.

"Brainwashing is only temporary," Cavalier replied. "It's impossible to force Cybertronians to act against their true natures for very long. The Decepticon reprogramming is only surface deep. All we need to do is get Stormrave to overcome that reprogramming virus and she'll be back to her old self."

~But her old self is a Decepticon,~ Zodiac thought, wishing he could be as optimistic as Cavalier.

Cavalier squinted at the sky. "I heard Ultra Magnus giving a briefing about a new Decepticon staging base in this area. That's probably what those two were guarding, checking to see how close we'd be willing to come. The base should be over in that direction...and with any luck, they won't have all their defences erected yet."

She was half-transformed when Zodiac asked, "What are you going to do?"

The white Autobot sighed and transformed back into a robot. "Easy. I'm going to go to this Phoenix Corps' base, find Stormer, and wake her up out of whatever the Decepticrumbs did to her."

"Rodimus isn't gonna be after likin' this."

"Rodimus isn't here."

"Ye's gonna go in there all by yourself?"

"Unless you're coming with me."

Zodiac sighed; there really wasn't much he could say to that. He was certain that Cavalier was smirking under that face plate. Decepticon headquarters was about the last place he wanted to be, but he wasn't about to let Cavalier go it alone.

"Are ye sure we shouldn't get some backup?"

"Like who? I can't think of anyone else who wouldn't go tell Ultra Magnus, and if he finds out, he'll put us on base guard duty or something and then we'll never get Stormer back."

Privately, Zodiac feared it might take more than that to get Stormrave back, but he dared not say so.


	6. Chapter 6

**The Last Kilairian**

**Chapter the Sixth**

High on a ridge outside the Decepticon base, a green-and-brown jump-jet squinted as his keen optics zoomed in on the twin dust trails in the distance. Autobots, two of them...approaching the new Decepticon staging base.

"Tempest, we've got company," the hunter said over his radio.

"Roger. Let's lay out a little welcome mat for these Autobots," came the yellow Seeker's voice.

"Can do. Harrier out." Grinning, the hunter settled in to wait for his prey.

###

"Any sign of their base?" Cavalier demanded over the radio.

Zodiac sighed. "Nega..." Then his audio sensors perked up at a noise coming from nearby. Music...loud music... "Cav, are you playing Twisted Sister?"

"NOBODY plays Twisted Sister any more, Zo...wait...yeah, I hear it! I hear it, too!" Moments later, Zodiac saw Cavalier's head come poking out from behind an outcropping. "Where's it coming from?" she asked.

"Somewhere down there."

"I've got point. Follow me."

Quietly, the two Autobots darted from crevasse to rock, using the natural formations as cover to hide behind. As they progressed, the music got louder. "We're not gonna take it...no, we ain't gonna take it! We're not gonna take it any more!"

"Got her!" Cavalier whispered, pointing over the ridge of a rocky hill. Zodiac peeked his head up, catching a glimpse of a red automobile sitting there and idling, music blaring.

"She looks Autobot to me," Zodiac said.

Cavalier shuddered. "Trust me, she's 'Con."

"Figure we can follow her back to base?"

"Well, that was the plan, but something's wrong. She's just sitting there."

"Doesn't she have anything better to do than sit around?"

"These 'Cons are tricky ones and..." Cavalier's transistors prickled. "It's a trap, Zodiac, we've got to get out of here and..."

"Calm down, ye ain't got no proof of that."

"Trust me, I know them, IT'S A TRAP!" She bolted to her feet and...

He was standing right behind them, the jump-jet Decepticon, a duelling pistol in each hand. "Beretta, charge!" he ordered as he started firing. The two Autobots dodged, transforming to vehicle mode.

"Now what?" Zodiac asked.

"Run...RUN!" Cavalier cried, sounding panicked, not at all like her usual self.

~I can't believe this is really happening!~ screamed the voice in Cavalier's mind.

A glance in her rearview mirror told her otherwise. There they were, just like in her dreams-the red sports car and the brown-and-green jump jet, transformed to vehicles and firing their lasers. The realism of the landscape, the aches in her frame, and Zodiac's presence beside her told Cavalier that she was not dreaming.

"This way!" Zodiac cried, darting towards a nearby cave.

"Zodiac!" Cavalier warned. "Look out for..."

"Holy glitch!" Zodiac slammed on his brakes and spun his wheel wildly to miss the green army truck that came barelling out of the cave. Beretta's whistling laughter rose up behind them.

Cavalier guessed what was coming next. "Look out for the net!" Zodiac didn't listen and drove headlong into the net that Cavalier knew would be hanging down over the mouth of the cave. Cavalier slammed on her brakes, but it didn't do any good...the army truck bumped her hard from behind and sent her flying into the net.

And there he was...the hateful little helicopter...pulling the net into the air and laughing. The other three Decepticons transformed into their robot forms and grinned up at their two captives. Cavalier, however, had anticipated the helicopter's move. She rapidly transformed, drawing her laser blade and slashing at the ropes that bound them. She and Zodiac dropped to the ground-Cavalier landing neatly on her feet and Zodiac landing hard on his behind.

"Transform and get out of here!" Cavalier ordered, turning into her auto mode with the triplechanger right behind her.

The enemy squadron was obviously taken aback, for it took them a few moments to realize what was going on and transform for pursuit. By that time, Cavalier and Zodiac had gained a precious lead.

"We'll lose 'em in the canyons!" the white car cried, turning slightly to the right. The two automobiles twisted and turned, finally unable to hear any sounds of pursuit.

"I think we've lost 'em," Zodiac puffed.

"Okay, let's head home and..." Cavalier's words broke off at the sight of two low-flying jets, one yellow and one red, barreling towards them and firing their lasers. Zodiac braked, too hard, and spun out into the cliff wall. He transformed, shaking his head, and probed the deep dents on his arm and side.

Cavalier also reverted to her robot form, drawing her gun and placing herself between the Decepticon raiders and Zodiac. "Hurry," she hissed, but the two Seekers were already landing and transforming.

Stormrave...and the yellow...yellow Seeker...no...

"A hard-fought battle," the yellow Seeker said, "but ultimately futile...as it must be. For your kind is built to die at the hands of your superiors...we...the Decepticons."

Cavalier's circuits turned to ice at the sound of the voice from her nightmares.

The yellow jet turned to her companion. "These Autobots are yours. Make your first kill for our cause."

Stormrave nodded curtly and advanced.

Cavalier raised her gun, steeling herself to fire on her former best friend. Despite everything she knew, her hand hesitated on the trigger...and that pause was her undoing. Stormrave shot the weapon out of her hand with one smooth gesture, firing the new Seeker-style arm cannon as she raised her right hand.

Cavalier fell back. Stormrave's hand dropped an inch as she trained her cannon on Cavalier's midsection. Still, Stormrave paused, and Cavalier could not tell if Stormrave was having second thoughts or simply toying with her.

"Stormrave," Cavalier pleaded desperately, "look inside yourself!"

Stormrave's mouth twisted into a bitter smirk.

"Enough games," Tempest hissed. "We strike to kill. Destroy them now or I will do it for you."

Cavalier looked behind herself to see Zodiac fumbling with his gun. "Shoot them," she hissed.

"We can't hurt Stormer!" Zodiac protested.

"Aim for the yellow one. We don't have to hurt Stormer," the white female replied, quickly dropping to one knee and scooping up a handful of the soft, muddy earth. "Just...blind her!" Cavalier threw the mudball as hard as she could, hitting Stormrave square in the face. Thick mud splattered all over the red jet's visor; her hand rose to her face at the force of the impact. "Roll for it, Zodiac!"

Zodiac squeezed off a few shots at Tempest. His aim was, as usual, off center, but one of his blasts struck Tempest in the right shoulder and dropped her to her knees, wincing. Quickly, the two Autobots transformed and fled, with Stormrave in jet form following right behind them. Any qualms she'd had about acting as firing squad on Cavalier and Zodiac had evidently vanished now that the Autobots were running targets instead of helpless victims. And Stormrave's aim was as accurate as ever.

A laser blast hit Cavalier's lower left bumper and knocked her right over. She transformed, rolling with the hit...

...and a red foot landed square in the center of her chest, kicking her into the rock wall. Red optics glared down from a familiar slate-grey face; the signature visor, caked with mud, sat far back on Stormrave's forehead.

"I did look inside myself," Stormrave hissed, "and I'm afraid that everything I found was military hardware."

"Military..." Cavalier gasped.

"Sorry, little Autobot." The red Seeker's arm lasers glowed. "I'm afraid your appeals fall on deaf ears. I'm Decepticon to the core." Her eyes...ruby red...narrowed into slits.

It was like a nightmare to Cavalier...worse than a nightmare. ~This cannot be happening THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING TO ME!~

"Stormy, don't!" Zodiac was back, stepping between Stormrave and Cavalier.

"Out of my way, medic!" the red Seeker hissed.

"What're you going to do? Shoot your best friend?"

"Tempest's my best friend."

"Stormy, that was long ago. What about recently? What about after Kilair was destroyed? What about when you became Sky Patrol Commander?"

"Sky...Patrol..." Her brow furrowed. "I remember Sky Patrol..." She stared at Cavalier as if she was seeing her for the first time. "I remember you!"

"What in Primus' name is going on here?" a cold female voice asked. Tempest limped out of the shadows, clutching her right shoulder. "Stormrave, kill those two Autobots and let's be quick about it. We need to report to Cyclonus, and I'm going to need some repairs." She glared at Zodiac; the medic, despite the severity of the situation, couldn't help looking a little ashamed at having caused injury to another.

"What haven't you told me?" Stormrave asked, never once taking her guns off the Autobots.

"What?" Tempest repeated incredulously.

"I said, what haven't you told me?" Now her head swung back to look at Tempest. "What happened to me, between the destruction of Kilair and the day you found me on Meridian-D?"

Tempest blinked at the note of authority in the red jet's voice. "I don't know...Mindsurge said your circuits were a little scrambled!" Her voice became harsh. "Look, Raver, this is not the time to discuss it. Do your business and let's get going."

"I don't take my orders from you," Stormrave growled. "You're my friend. You're not my commander!"

"Shoot her, Stormer!" Cavalier whispered.

Stormrave swung her head back, glaring at Cavalier with an equally hateful look. "I'm a Decepticon. I don't fire on my own kind."

"Stormy, Cav is your best friend!" Zodiac urged.

"I...remember..." The grey face twisted in pain. "Sky Patrol Commander...Autobot games. I am not one of you. I'm not going to lie any more." Her optics narrowed at Cavalier. "I'm not even going to pretend."

"Kill those slagging Autobots now!" Tempest shrilled.

"You're one of us!" Zodiac pleaded.

The red optics widened and took on a light of agony.

Tempest's voice was ice. "Stand aside." She limped forward, raising her left arm cannon.

"Stay back," Stormrave growled, raising hers, while keeping her right arm weapon trained on Cavalier.

"Who're you going to shoot?" Tempest asked sardonically. "I saved your life. Listen to me, Raver. Let me kill those Autobots and then we'll get Mindsurge to fix you up..."

"You've fought with us for centuries!" Cavalier whispered. "You can't betray us!"

Stormrave's optics were not on her Kilairian friend, nor on her Cybertronian friend, but locked on the face of the triplechanger medic. "How can I choose between my friends?" Stormrave asked, her expression agonized.

And then, without waiting for an answer, she abruptly transformed into a jet and blasted off vertically, tracing a line into the heavens until she vanished from sight.

Cavalier was saved by two main factors: that Zodiac was ready with his gun, firing on Tempest the second Stormrave was clear, and that the already injured Decepticon wasn't inclined to take on two Autobots by herself. Tempest transformed and retreated without a parting word.

After the yellow Seeker was gone, Zodiac looked at Cavalier wordlessly.

"I can't believe she's a Decepticon," Cavalier whispered.

"Maybe we can bring her back," Zodiac replied softly.

"Bring her back?" The white female was suddenly angry. "Are you slaggin' kidding me? She's one of them! She abandoned us to that damned yellow friend of hers!" Cavalier turned away angrily, trying not to think about the fact her best friend was a traitor, a Decepticon in disguise, and had been one all along...

Zodiac sighed miserably. How could he say it wasn't that easy? How could he explain that Stormrave had loyalties on both sides of the conflict? He transformed, saying nothing as he followed Cavalier back to the Autobot base.

#

Dreams.

Kilair...a world in ruins. This Stormrave remembered well, half from her own recollections, half from what Tempest had told her.

There-the Autobot medic. The one who'd been haunting her, both in thoughts and in the waking world. Zodiac, that was his name. He was sitting beside her on the rill outside Silicia, listening to her tell her story. He wrapped his arm around her to comfort her.

And oh, what story was she telling? Black raiders from the skies. Yes, Stormrave could see it now in slow motion as the recollected images rose from a deeper memory bank. Decepticons blitzing Kilair. Death and destruction. Their leader, black trimmed with orange, directing a wave of slaughter through Stormrave's childhood schoolyard...

...and the leader turned his face towards her.

Brigand.

"Stormrave!"

Stormrave's optics flew open and focused on Tempest standing in the doorway.

"Stormrave, what are you doing in sleep cycle at this time of the day? We've got work to do."

For a moment, Stormrave considered explaining to Tempest what she'd asked Lili Marlene to do...and then thought better of it. That would be a tactical mistake. She didn't want to provoke a conflict between Tempest and Brigand right away...

...or, she realized with a chill, perhaps Tempest had known all along that Brigand was the one who destroyed Kilair, and deliberately hadn't said anything.

~And after all, you can't trust Decepticons...~

~but I'M a Decepticon!~

~You're the Autobot Sky Patrol Commander.~

~What? Auto...oh, slag...~

And there it was.

"C...coming," she told Tempest, struggling to hide the emotions inside her. "Just a minute."

Whatever had happened, Tempest was still her best friend...

~Cavalier is your best friend.~

~Cav hates 'Cons.~

~You are Stormrave of Autobot Sky Patrol~

~Decepticons are built to rule...Autobots are built to die!~

Tempest frowned. "You don't look good."

"I don't feel good." She raised her hand to her helmeted head.

The yellow Seeker looked disturbed. "Is that wound still bothering you?"

"I don't know. Maybe."

"Rest then. Better yet, go have Mindsurge take another look at it. Take care. I have work to do." With that, Tempest walked out, leaving Stormrave alone with her questions.

What was real? What was dream? Stormrave felt that she'd been living two lives...the life of a Decepticon warrior, and the life of an Autobot unit leader. Weird memories mixed and danced. The pride at the conclusion of a successful peacekeeping mission...the cold strategy of the Decepticon tactics she'd studied all her life. Emotion and logic clashed.

She didn't know...didn't understand. She hadn't wanted to kill those Autobots. She was willing to risk Tempest's wrath. She was used to being an outsider. Part of her felt guilty for leaving the battle, but really, what side would she take? She hoped both Tempest and the two Autobots escaped unharmed.

~Friendship cannot survive across the lines of allegiance...not in this war.~

But what was she? Not Decepticon...not Autobot...but a confused Decepticon who thought like an Autobot. She transformed and pulled open her access panel, staring at the red wiring, touching it to assure herself that it was really there.

~What do you want, Stormrave?~

Brigand. Brigand, the one who created this problem. The one who destroyed her friends, her family, her world. The one who'd made Stormrave into a lost soul without a side.

~Autobot...Brigand is a menace to the peace of the galaxy. He must be stopped.~

~Decepticon...it is in the nature of my kind to seek revenge.~

Whatever Stormrave truly was, Brigand's fate was far more easily settled than her own.

#

Stormrave stalked into the halls of the Decepticon command post, optics scanning left and right. She noticed Long Haul walking by-one of the more civil Constructicons-and approached him. "Where's Brigand?"

"In the maps room," Long Haul replied.

"Thanks."

The rest was easy. Walk in, raise her arm cannons, fire...

Brigand never knew what hit him. One moment, he was examining the latest reconnaissance maps; the next, he was on his back across the room, with a shadow coming in for the kill...

He opened his communications link. "Decepticons, to me! Code Red!"

Stormrave fought like a wild creature, but there were too many of them and she had no desire to harm...

~her fellow Decepticons.~

~fellow?~

They overpowered her, dragging her away from Brigand. The pirate chief was rising, ready to join in the fray, when Cyclonus appeared.

"Stop this at once. Brigand, stand down! Constructicons, put Stormrave in the brig for now. Tempest will have a talk with her once she returns." He stroked his chin as Stormrave was led away. "Brigand, what was that about?"

"She attacked me, from behind..."

"Why?"

"How am I supposed to know why? I don't even know who she is! One of Tempest's, I assume..." His optics narrowed. "Say, doesn't she remind you of someone?"

"Such as?"

"I heard rumours around the fuel dumps...rumours about an Autobot who looks like a 'Con. The Sky Patrol commander."

"Hmm. Yes. I heard those too, and did a little investigating. According to Mindsurge and Lili Marlene, our red friend is pure Decepticon under the hood. Still... I will have Tempest keep a very close watch on her."

"I say slag her."

"It's not your jurisdiction. She is Tempest's soldier. But trust me...our little renegade will be dealt with appropriately."

#

In the brig, Stormrave cursed herself for her reckless behaviour. ~Way to go, Sky Patrol Commander. What were you thinking? You knew better than to attack him in the middle of the command room!~

~Anything to take my mind off other problems.~

~Now what's Tempest going to do? The only reason you're still alive is because they consider you a fellow Decepticon...but what if Cyclonus figures out...~

~figures out what?~

~Stormrave of Autobot Sky Patrol~

~Dammit, where in the PIT do I belong?~

As she agonized, there was a rumbling in the shadows that went unheard by Stormrave. Headstrong took note of the situation and then slunk out through the same ventilation duct that had let him in, heading back to Blaster with the latest information.

#

"That proves it," Springer said, slamming his hand down on the report sent in by Headstrong and Blaster. "Stormrave got brainwashed by the Decepticons-but even their reprogramming couldn't keep her down for long. She rebelled, fought back, and they threw her in the brig."

"It's a trap," Cavalier stated flatly, as the other Autobots turned to stare at her.

"What are you saying?" Ultra Magnus asked.

"She's a Decepticon. I saw it. Red optics."

"Optic glass can be changed," Arcee argued. She turned to Zodiac. "Can't it?"

~Not without affecting vision,~ Zodiac thought, but he didn't want to argue the point right now. "Ultra Magnus, let me go on a rescue mission."

Magnus' jaw dropped. "You, Zodiac? You're not really the commando type."

~No, but I'm the only one who understands her...we have to get her back!~ he thought. "Please, sir."

"All right," the missile truck sergeant agreed. "We will send a rescue."

"You're slaggin' nuts," Cavalier muttered. "Then I'm going too. I'm not having any of my friends getting slagged when you find out it's a trap."

"Very well...but you will hold your fire on Stormrave! Friend or foe, we'll find out for certain once we get her back here. Even if she is a Decepticon, she knows too much about our installations and our tactics to leave her in the hands of the enemy. Cavalier, Zodiac and Springer...you're our rescue team."

#

Several hours later, Stormrave had stopped mentally beating herself and was curled up on the cell bench in sleep cycle when a familiar voice roused her.

"Raver?"

Stormrave's head jerked upwards.

Tempest threw the brig door open and stormed in, her optics flashing an angry red. "Raver, what have you done?"

"No, Tempest. What have YOU done?"

Tempest instinctively raised her right arm cannon. "Brigand is in the med lab now. He told Mindsurge and Cyclonus what you did. Raver, he was a Decepticon, like us...What in Primus' name possessed you to betray us?"

Stormrave advanced on her old friend. "Let's talk about betrayal, Tempest. Do you know who he was?"

"Brigand is the leader of Decepticon forces in this sector!"

"Brigand is the one who led the attack on Kilair. Have you forgotten?" She reached out her hand, grabbed Tempest by the wrist, and forcibly lowered her cannon. Tempest struggled weakly but did not fire. Stormrave faced her old friend optic to optic. "Did you wipe it out of your memory? Did you forget Kilair?"

"Of course not!" The yellow Seeker wrenched her arm away. "But that's in the past. This is the present, and in this present, Brigand is my superior officer."

"And you're willing to forgive him for what he did?" Stormrave was yelling now, struggling to control her temper.

"HE DID NOTHING WRONG!" Tempest screamed back.

The red female staggered back a pace. "Tempest, what in the Pit are you talking about?"

"He's a Decepticon. Just like us. He was only acting true to his own nature."

"He KILLED our city! Our leaders! Our friends!"

"They were AUTOBOTS!" Tempest argued. "Raver, don't you understand? Our teachers, our leaders, they were all Autobots under the skin. They were weak. They deserved to die!"

Stormrave paled. "What?" she whispered, stunned.

"Look around you. Decepticons are built to conquer. We are the strongest, the smartest, and the best suited to survival. As the finest product of evolution, it is our right...no, our DUTY...to dispose of those undeserving of survival. The weak. The slow. The timid. We destroy the garbage of the universe, leaving only the brightest and best. That's all Brigand was doing-what he was built to do. What WE were built to do."

"You can't be saying..." Stormrave protested, but in her heart, she knew exactly what Tempest was saying.

"Kilair was weak. It had no standing army. It had no plans for its own defense. Most of its people were degenerate Autobots. Dammit, Stormrave, the Kilairians died because they DESERVED TO DIE!"

"We did NOTHING! Brigand and his raiders attacked us for no reason!"

"They had reason. They had the best reason of all. With our unpreparedness, we were inviting their attack."

"You can't believe that," Stormrave whispered, feeling sick inside.

"Of course I believe it...because it is true."

Stormrave fought to master her emotions and finally shoved them into a dark corner deep inside. "So you're willing to forgive Brigand for what he did to Kilair, just because Galvatron gave you and him the same mission. Have you really sold out your pride to that madman's whims?"

Tempest crossed her arms and glared at Stormrave. "I would forgive Brigand regardless. He has done me a favour, Stormrave. Without him, I would have grown up to be nothing more than that timid and cowering weakling that you knew back on Kilair-one more drone slaving for a weak and decadent civilization, knowing nothing beyond the atmosphere of Kilair. Instead I am a leader, strong and experienced, having travelled the farthest reaches of the galaxy, tasted its greatest pleasures, and claimed them for my own." Her eyes narrowed. "Everything that you are...everything that you have become...is because of Brigand. He has broken the chains that tied us to the miserable Autobots and their narrow world view. If you owe him anything, it is your gratitude."

"And what of our childhood friends?" Stormrave retorted icily. "What of our teachers? What kind of thanks would they give him?"

"They were Autobots! Autobots are weak and Autobots must die. Raver, the raiders did us a favour! They burned the weakness out of Kilair and left only the strong...you and me."

"We weren't strong," Stormrave said softly. "We were lucky."

And at that worst of all possible moments, Cavalier, Zodiac and Springer burst through the door.

#

"Stormer?" Cavalier whispered, but the red jet had one of her arm lasers trained on the Autobots and the other on Tempest. Tempest had jerked both her weapons towards the intruders, but upon noticing Stormrave aiming at her, had re-directed her left arm towards the former Sky Patrol Commander. Cavalier herself, uncertain of Stormrave's loyalties, decided to play it safe and aim one gun at each Seeker; Springer followed suit.

"Standoff," Tempest grinned. "We can save our debate for later, Raver. Let's take out our enemies first."

"My name is Stormrave," the red jet retorted. "Not Stormer. Not Raver. Stormrave. Got it?"

"You are a miserable traitor, whatever you call yourself," Cavalier growled. "To turn your back on Sky Patrol..."

Tempest sucked in a breath through her air intakes and let it out in a hiss. "So. Those rumours I have heard are true. You're the Autobot Sky Patrol Commander." Her breath hissed in her vents. Stormrave's head turned towards Cavalier, Zodiac and Springer. "Get out of here, Autobots. This battle does not concern you."

"Ye's not a Decepticon," Zodiac protested.

Stormrave reached up and tore the Decepticon logos off her wings.

Tempest's head jerked upwards. "You cannot betray the Decepticon Empire!"

"How can I betray what I never truly belonged to?" the red Seeker asked. "It was you, Tempest, who put those markings on my wings."

"Very well, then," Tempest retorted icily. "Return to the Autobots, if you will...and prepare to pay the price, when the Decepticons catch you."

"Return? A Seeker in Sky Patrol? Ask them to put their trust in a Decepticon? Tempest, you have brought my Autobot days to an end."

"You'll thank me someday, my friend. I've done you a favour."

"Friend?" The red Seeker's voice was slow and sad. "I don't think so, Tempest. I don't need your kind of favours."

"Then what do you call yourself?" Cavalier demanded. "What side are you on, anyway?"

"I finish this battle as I began my life...as a Kilairian. And as such, I have only one allegiance left to fulfill."

Transforming, she fired her afterburners and screamed over their heads through the open brig door, leaving them to battle as they would.

#

The darkened med lab was empty now, save for Brigand, who was the lone occupant. He was resting on a low bier, his senses dulled for sleep cycle. Stormrave was able to brush his emergency contact radio out of his reach before he reached full alertness.

"Who are you?" Brigand asked as he raised himself upright. Damaged though he was, he could tell that the shadowy figure in his room wasn't a medic.

Stormrave drove her foot into the black Raider's chest, forcing him down on his back. "I haven't forgotten about you," she said coldly. "Do you remember Kilair?"

"Undefended planet..." A weak snort. "Yeah."

"Well...it's time for you to face justice for your crimes. Perhaps you remember me."

"Well, well." His voice was low and mocking. "The Autobot Sky Patrol Commander is back. You fight like a octatiger, litle one. So, you're going to take me back to prison on Cybertron, eh?"

"I'm not an Autobot," she said softly. "I'm the last Kilairian." Her mouth hardened. "And you're not going anywhere."

"Last..." He paused, as if feeling fear for the first time. "Hey, you gotta take me back for justice! It's an Autobot rule!"

"I'm not an Autobot," Stormrave repeated. "I'm a Seeker. The Last Kilairian." She snapped her visor upward. Red optics glowed, flame in the darkness. Twin arm lasers whined as their interior coils reached maximum power. "And you're about to receive Kilairian justice...the same kind you gave us."

#

"Draw back!" Springer ordered.

"We've got her outnumbered!" Cavalier yelled over a blaze of laser fire. Battle-thirst pounded through her circuitry, driving her to finish off this Decepticon once and for all. Her ruined jaw twitched under her face plate.

"Until her buddies get here, and then where are we? Grab Zodiac and let's go!"

"Zodiac...ZODIAC!" The white female scanned the room, but Zodiac was nowhere to be found. "He's gone!"

The ominous pounding of feet sounded in the corridor. "No time, we've got to get out of here!"

"What about Zodiac?"

"He's probably already gone...come ON, Cav!" Springer let off one last burst, and then the two Autobots transformed to auto mode and rolled out. Tempest fired a few parting blasts, but she'd taken a few hits and knew she wasn't in any condition to pursue them. Hopefully the perimeter guards would get them.

The yellow Seeker looked around the empty cell and bowed her head.

~Betrayed...by my best friend...~

She should be angry. She should go rip Stormrave's head from her shoulders.

Instead, she felt only abandonment...and pain.

#

Zodiac was gone, all right, but not towards the exit. Instead, he'd followed the sound of Stormy's jet engines, and then, her voice. The noises had led him here, into what looked like the medical bays...and then, there'd been gunfire and a horrific scream.

"Stormy?" Zodiac called tentatively as he peered into the gloom, his weapon at the ready. As his night-vision came online, he could see the outline of the red Seeker standing over a prostrate form on a bier. "Stormrave, what are you doing?"

"It's over," she replied slowly. "We're even...or as even as I can make it."

Zodiac gasped as he identified the form as that of a badly mangled Decepticon, its head blown off, its limbs shattered, its core processor cut out with a laser blade. The processor itself now dangled limply from Stormrave's left hand. "Stormy, you didn't..."

"I did," she answered coldly. "Justice, Zodiac. Justice at last."

"That's not justice," he whispered.

"Maybe not Autobot justice. Blame my Decepticon circuitry." A snort.

"So now who do ye belong to, me girl?"

"Kilair," she replied. "I'm the last Kilairian."

"What about Tempest?"

"She's a traitor, she and Chopper. She's a Decepticon, now. And Macroburst and his comrades are dead. I'm the last." She walked past him, still holding Brigand's processor, and headed down the corridor.

"Where are ye going?" he called after her.

"Home."

#

"Youguyslookawful, Imeanawful yuckyscrappedslagged junkedtrashed !" Blurr exclaimed when the Autobot rescue team returned.

"We feel it," Springer muttered, clutching a wounded arm. "We ran into a platoon of Sweeps on our way out of Con HQ."

"And now we're on our way to log some time in repairs," Cavalier added.

"Physician, heal thyself," Zodiac muttered.

Ultra Magnus folded his arms. "What about Stormrave?"

"What about her?" Cavalier snarled.

"So. She's a Decepticon then."

"She ain't a Decepticon," Zodiac argued. "She wouldn't fight for them."

"She wouldn't fight for us either," Springer retorted.

"That makes her a neutral, not an enemy."

"She betrayed us. She was an Autobot, honour bound to help us."

Zodiac sighed. "She was a Kilairian." He turned his head, looking out through the window into the endless blackness of space. "And I hope she finds her way home...to the Autobots."

#

"I cannot bring you back," Stormrave announced to the whistling wind and the silicon flowers of the shattered city below her. "I cannot erase your pain. I cannot restore your life. I cannot even exact blow for blow upon those who violated you."

She gripped Brigand's core processor in both hands and raised it over her head, presenting it to the ruins.

"But I bring you here the heart of the one who engineered your downfall, and I offer it unto your memory, as a token of the loyalty of your last surviving child. Sleep, now. Sleep with honour. Sleep with peace, knowing you are avenged."

Stormrave clutched her gruesome prize, thinking of her teachers, elders and friends, thinking of the world she had known, thinking of the innocent child she had been.

But part of her thought of Tempest and their onetime friendship. The old Tempest was lost to her as irrevokably as the city, and like the city, left only an outline that seemed familiar but was dead inside.

And that part of her knew she was avenging more than just the dead.

"FOR KILAIR!" she screamed, flinging the processor over the cliff and turning her back before she could see where it landed.

There was nothing more for her here. Even if she could reactivate the old fuel plants-even if Brigand's soldiers had left some energy reserves remaining on this planet-there was nothing left for here here but ghosts of bygones. To stay was to go mad.

She transformed and set off into the northern sky, setting a course for Reicere, the planet of the Rejected.

THE END


End file.
